Dragon's Curse Ver 2
by Whymsical
Summary: Second version, with Arthur as the dragon this time! Adventures differ and more excitement awaits!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: Second version of the dragon fic! (I do have a thing for multiple versions, don't I? Heh...) Arthur's the dragon here and it's gonna be a little different but I hope you enjoy nonetheless~

Oh, and I forgot to mention at the end of the second one but Alfred and Matthew do reunite after a few days (after Alfred's worked up the courage for it) and Matthew hits him and they both cry and live happily ever after.

* * *

Alfred was glad when he finally reached the mountain cave. It wasn't too high up the steep slopes, but enough to give the blond man a hard time getting to it. Why was he climbing mountains, you might ask? To kill a dragon. Years ago one had appeared and of course the people had been whipped up into a panic. The king had issued a decree about a few months ago saying that anyone, anyone at all, who killed the beast would automatically get training and eventually knighthood if they were a peasant- like he was- or just massive honours if they were already a knight.

Alfred had of course taken up the offer immediately. His brother Matthew was already a successful healer, but Alfred was kind of just...there. He wanted to help his brother out financially and be a hero, and becoming a knight would solve both of those problems. He hadn't really had a chance before, but now he did so of course he'd take it.

And now he was standing before the lair of the dragon.

"Oi!" he shouted into the darkness. "Dragon! Come out and prepare to die!"

Arthur had been enjoying a peaceful nap before his slumber was interrupted by a shout from outside his home. Lazily rolling an eye in the direction of the shout, he let out a huff of air and stood, heading towards the entrance. He slowly emerged from the cave, bottle-green wings arranged like a soft cape around his back. He did so in a deliberate way, to show himself off. First came his head, then one paw, then the rest of his body.

He towered over the man, eyeing him critically and, giving a short, dark chuckle, broke into a toothy smirk. "I have no time for peasants like you." he said, voice booming as he promptly turned back towards his cave.

Momentarily awed by the sight of the dragon, it quickly wore off when the creature spoke. "HEY!" Alfred pouted a bit, and then drew his sword. It wasn't the best sword, being pretty old and having a spot of rust at the base near the hilt, but it was the best he could have gotten. He didn't even have any armour, but it didn't matter in that moment. "Imma hero! And I told you," he declared, pointing the sword at the dragon's chest. "Prepare to die!"

The dragon rolled his blazingly emerald eyes, tired of this game, and lowered his head closer to the 'hero's'. In one swift and sudden motion, Arthur's wings snapped out and the spines along his jaw flared as he roared threateningly, throat burning orange with heat. "Understand?" he asked when he finished, speaking quietly to the blue eyes in front of him. "You cannot fight against me." He straightened out, turning his head away in disinterest. "Run along, little one. I'd rather not waste time on killing you."

Alfred admittedly gulped at the roar, but he stood his ground. He had to do this, for himself and Matthew. "Wanna bet on that, lizard?" he asked, adjusting his grip on the sword.

This Arthur looked at him for a moment, tilting his head a little. He had spirit, at least, but well, they all did at first. "I don't need to." he replied smoothly.

Alfred's eyes narrowed a bit, and he took a step forward. "Pity for you. Cuz I will kill you." he said, and with that he charged, his sword aiming right for the dragon's heart.

Eyes glaring, the dragon only remained surprised for a split second before maneuvering, avoiding the worst of the attack. Immediately after he snarled and lashed out at the other, knocking him to the ground. "I admire your courage." Arthur informed the man, moving towards where he was. "But I have to say it is entirely misplaced.

Alfred winced and grunted softly as he hit the ground, feeling the warm, tell-tale signs of bleeding spreading across his shoulder and side. But he ignored them and clambered to his feet, breathing heavily. "It ain't, and I'm gonna do it." he said determinedly, slashing quickly at the dragon once again when it was in reach.

Growling again as he was hit, Arthur hit the other and climbed on top of him, pinning him down. "You want to fight?" he snarled, his left paw coming back, claws suddenly showing. "Let's fight." He began to bring the claws down.

The breath was knocked from him, even more so when the dragon pinned him. Alfred could feel his skin ripping apart more as the cuts from the previous time widened under the immense pressure and angle of the beast's body. The sword had been knocked from his grip and his eyes closed briefly as he attempted to reach it. Then he coughed and some blood spilled out onto his chin and chest, and his eyes opened again to focus on the sight before him. His hand still weakly scrabbled for the blade but there was fear in his eyes, just barely mostly masked by stubbornness.

As the dragon brought his claws down, he looked fiercely into the other's eyes. All of a sudden his own eyes widened and he stopped, claws inches away from the peasant's body. Quickly narrowing his eyes again, Arthur shoved off him and stalked back to his cave without another word.

"H-Hey!" Alfred called hoarsely, trying to drag himself up. The moment he moved, his side exploded into pain and he curled in on himself, but he looked back at the cave. "Get- Get back here! M'not...done with you-" He broke off in a coughing fit, and his eyes widened when he saw the fresh blood on the ground. He only then started to realize how bad this was.

After a few minutes of laying there, he felt he could move and did so slowly, wincing the entire time. He dragged himself over to where his pack had fallen, leaving a trail of blood after him. His fingers fumbled a bit but he finally managed to get the thing open, and he got the bandages out. He attempted to wrap them around himself, but his strength was fast waning and all he could manage before going limp was to unroll the fabric. He blinked rapidly, and a slight desperation set in. He couldn't die here. Matthew- what would he do?

"H-Hey...!" he called again, but it came out as more of a croak this time.

Watching from the shadows of his cave, Arthur was in turmoil. He saw the human's pitiful attempts at saving himself and looked away, unable to gaze upon what he had caused. Arthur had never been one to hurt, but the way he had grown up had taught him to fight anybody who put him down, and now he was beginning to regret even that. Upon hearing the faint cry, Arthur looked back at the dying man and left his cave again, silently setting about cleaning the blood a little with his licks.

Alfred started when he suddenly felt something warm lap at his side, and he turned his head a little towards it only to flinch away a bit. His eyes widened in surprise and he made a small motion for his sword, but he was already too weak even for that.

"Wh-What are you doing?" he managed to get out.

Arthur shot daggers at the man. "Shut up." he muttered as he lightly nudged the other lightly towards his cave, trying not to hurt the man.

Alfred winced as he was pushed along the ground. "R-Really, what?"

"Stop talking!" Arthur flared at him, baring his teeth as he continued moving him. "It'd be rather obvious where my hideout was if I left a dying body outside..."

"S-So you're just gonna wait for me to-" Alfred coughed again, and more blood splattered against the floor. "Die in there?"

Arthur stopped his motions and glared at the other. "Don't be ridiculous. I'll help you out, and you will leave. Understand?" The dragon narrowed his eyes, the human's response determining whether he would leave or help.

Alfred frowned slightly. "W-Why aren't you gonna- gonna kill me?" he panted out. "You were gonna before-" He shifted ever so slightly and his side hit a small rock on the floor. Pain spasmed across his face, despite his best efforts to contain it.

"Tch, I told you to stop talking!" the dragon reprimanded, a slight anxiety flashing through his eyes at the amount of pain the human was in. He hurriedly licked the area, cleaning it of new blood and hoping it'd help at least in the slightest. His eyes darted to the bandage left lying on the floor.

Wincing slightly at the hurried licks and surprised by the dragon's actions, Alfred tried to do as was asked. He did watch in silence for a few moments, but then couldn't take it. "Why- Why are you helping me?"

Arthur huffed out a sigh as he gathered the bandage up. "If you're healthy enough, you can leave me alone. I don't want to deal with having you dying on me." He picked the human up by the clothing, carrying him in his mouth to the cave. It may have hurt, but it was the easiest way.

Alfred flinched a tiny bit when the dragon's mouth came close to him, but there was nothing he could do but relax in the creature's grip as he was carried. The warm breath on the back of his neck helped a bit. "W-What makes you think I'll just leave?" he asked stubbornly, clenching his teeth against the pain.

Dropping him gently on the floor of his cave, Arthur stripped the man of his clothing, placing the bandage near. "You'd better. I won't be so kind next time." He lifted the man with a paw, placing the bandage underneath him. He then laid the other back down, wrapping the bandage around the human- albeit somewhat messily.

"There's a price...nnn- a price on your head-" Alfred muttered. "I-I won't be the only one to come after you..." He weakly reached out and fixed the bandage a bit while the dragon worked.

"And?" Arthur stood back when he had finished. "I can take care of myself, in case you hadn't noticed."

Excruciatingly slowly, Alfred moved back so his back was to one of the walls. Even that further drained him and all he could do was sit there and watch the dragon with suspicion. "My stuff..." he said lowly to change the subject, vaguely gesturing to where his pack and sword were still laying outside.

Glancing towards the entrance, Arthur straightened himself. "I'll be back soon enough. Don't try anything ridiculous." he said, heading for the entrance. He stretched out his wings and took off, heading for the nearest river.

Surprised by the dragon's sudden departure, Alfred spent the next few minutes wondering if this was all just some big trick and the creature left only so Alfred would get comfortable and let down his guard so he could be killed easier. But gradually, as nothing happened, Alfred relaxed a bit and decided to look around as best he could from his position. The cave was a normal cave- well, as normal as a cave could be when a dragon inhabited it. There was a shallow dip in the floor where the creature probably most often slept, as well as a pile of treasure near the back, behind the dip.

The blond teen stared at it. It was literally a mound of gold and antique armour, platters, and chalices. He wasn't normally one for taking something that wasn't his, but even a small amount of that treasure would mean that Mattie would be well off for years, and Alfred as well. But he cared more about his brother than himself, so most of it would go to him. He vowed to himself that he would recover and then kill the creature, and after that give the treasure to Matthew. He'd make enough being a knight, after all.

After about half an hour, Arthur returned with water and food, picking up Alfred's belongings on his way back. He dumped them down by Alfred, then went to sit by the edge of the cave. "Drink." he ordered as he settled down to watch over his collection of items foraged, stolen, and left behind.

Alfred did so silently, and he was pleased when he was able to drink with his arms shaking only minimally. Some of his strength was returning, though he very much doubted he would be able to stand anytime soon. Glancing down, he saw the bandages around him were already reddening and he sighed softly, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't have any other bandages. He pulled the pack protectively closer to him and leaned his head back against the wall.

The dragon glanced at the injured man for a moment, his eyes then moving back to his beloved antiques. "...What's your name, human?"

"Why does it matter?"

"I want to know the name of the person staying in my home." Arthur demanded, slowly turning to look at the man.

Alfred met his gaze for a moment and then looked away, at the ground. "Alfred. I'm Alfred. Dunno how that makes a difference." He couldn't get up close and personal with the beast; then he might have a harder time killing it later.

Arthur looked at the other a while longer, trying to figure out what he was thinking, before settling his head on his paws. "Thank you." he murmured.

"Wh-What?" Alfred looked up at the dragon, surprised.

"For telling me your name." Arthur let out a sigh as he closed his eyes.

"...Right." Alfred reached out and managed to get his sword, but he simply sheathed it. It needed a good cleaning and sharpening, but he could do that later.

Arthur tensed a little at the sound, but wasn't really worried due to the state Alfred was in. Shifting his position slightly, he relaxed himself, trying to get back to the sleep he had been interrupted from earlier.

"I'm really supposed to believe you're just gonna let me walk away from here?" Alfred suddenly asked, watching the dragon closely.

Lazily rolling a now-open eye in the human's direction, Arthur huffed. "I nearly killed you," he began menacingly. "And you still think you could take me on? Don't make me laugh. You're not even a knight."

Alfred flinched a bit at the words and he saddened, but then he gritted his teeth, determined. He gathered his strength and heaved himself up, feeling more blood suddenly flow from his injuries at the strain. Using the wall heavily for support, he managed to stand. "Not yet I'm not." he said, voice full of conviction, before his legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground once more.

Arthur barked out a short laugh at the heap below him. "And you're planning to be? How on Earth will you manage that?"

"By killing you." Alfred shot back, glaring at the dragon. "Don't laugh! I told you, didn't I? There's a price on your head." He struggled to get into a less painful position.

His eyes slits, Arthur lowered his face to look directly into Alfred's. "After everything I've done?" He let out a short, disappointed chuckle. "You best find a new way of going about that dream of yours..."

"There is no other way." Alfred muttered, wrapping his arms lightly around himself and looking away.

"Well I can assure you this way will not be beneficial to you. I've already proven that. So if there's really no other way, you're better off giving up." he replied, turning away.

"I can't." Alfred said softly, but with determination. "I can't give up- I gotta help Mattie. I won't give up, you'll see."

Arthur stilled for a moment. "You'll likely die in that case. And you can hardly help 'Mattie' then."

"Then at least I'll have died trying." Alfred declared fiercely. "I've got a better shot doing this than doing nothing to better our situation."

Arthur looked around and effectively raised a brow. "Your situation?"

Alfred glanced up at him. "Why the hell do you care? You're just a dragon, something that's gotta be killed for the better of a whole bunch of people!" He looked away again, but his hand tightened on the hilt of his sword in case the creature decided to do anything.

Arthur's eyes narrowed severely at this, and almost unnoticeable flinch going through him at the words. He came forward again, slowly. "For the better of the people?" he asked quietly, a low growl settling in his throat. "What exactly do you take me for?"

"A dragon." Alfred replied flatly. "And dragons kill people, so you gotta be ended."

"Only the ones that attack me first!" Arthur snarled. "I have never killed a single human on purpose!"

"Sure, sure." Alfred looked away again.

"Ah, I see. You don't believe me." The dragon relaxed his body a little. "Although I really couldn't care less if you don't. The only people who have ever died because of me are those pretentious enough to assume they can kill me." Arthur looked down at a small, now faint scar on his chest, a slight twinge of regret in his eyes.

"I'm not pretentious, if that's what you're getting at." Alfred muttered, and struggled over onto his side, facing away from the dragon.

"...I'm assuming this means I can finally get a little more sleep?" Arthur asked, not caring for what Alfred might be feeling.

Alfred just shrugged and curled up a little more. He touched his side and grimaced when his hand came away slightly stained red, but there was nothing he could do but stay still and pray it stopped bleeding soon.

Arthur watched him for a few moments, before going and curling up to sleep.

Over the next few days, Alfred gradually got stronger. The dragon- Alfred still didn't bother even learning its name- didn't really talk to him that much, and Alfred surprisingly didn't mind. He was brought food and water- but no more licking- and then left alone while the creature went off to hunt or whatever it did. During the time he was alone he sharpened and cleaned his sword, as well as cleaning his pack of the blood that had gotten on it. He admittedly glanced at the treasure and considered slipping in a few coins, but in the end decided it wasn't worth the risk.

After about a week, he was able to stand and walk around for more than ten minutes, though the action still exhausted him. From then on his recovery happened even more rapidly- he had always healed quickly- and a few days after that he deemed himself fit to leave. He decided to go one day when the dragon was out hunting, so he gathered all his things and settled down on the ledge outside to wait for it to return so he could inform it of that.

Arthur returned back to his cave to find Alfred waiting for him. "Oh? This is unusual."

Alfred stood and hitched his pack over his shoulder, wincing slightly as it rubbed against his almost healed wounds." I'm leaving." he said shortly. But he'd be back soon enough for a second round. "Bye." He turned and slowly started making his way back down the mountain.

"Hmph." Arthur turned to watch him leave, before going into his cave to eat his catch, mostly glad the 'hero' was out of his hair. He relaxed for the rest of the day and evening before settling down for a peaceful night's sleep.

It took Alfred most of the day and night to climb down, as he had to stop frequently to rest or his side would hurt too much for him to breathe properly. Eventually he made it down and set up a small camp near a road, in a small but well hidden hollow so he could recover some more while still being near the dragon's dwelling.

Meanwhile, a few hours later, Arthur was woken by a feeling around his leg. Looking down groggily, he saw somebody and swiped out at them, missing by a few inches. They probably couldn't do much anywa- wait. There was more than one. Arthur shook himself further awake to find himself surrounded and quickly tied up. He tried to fight back, but only managed to slightly injure two of them.

Soon enough he was being dragged down the mountain and then down the road, insults and pitchforks being thrown at him.

Alfred was woken from his sleep by a commotion. He didn't know what it was at first, but then he heard voices coming from the direction of the road. Stumbling up and rubbing his eyes a bit, he silently made his way towards it, only to freeze in shock. A group of men was dragging the dragon down the road- _his dragon_. Oh come on, barely a day had passed and already others were trying to steal his prize? That would not do. He grabbed his sword and hurriedly packed up before quietly following them.

* * *

**A/N**: And that's the start of it! These two have a slightly different relationship...


	2. Chapter 2

Arthur was taken to the nearest town and tied up in a hidden back alley while one of the humans left to send a message to the king, leaving four humans to guard him.

Alfred caught the messenger right as he was leaving down and knocked him unconscious, though the man managed to get a swipe at him and ever so slightly reopen his injuries. After cursing at the body lying there, he lashed it to the horse the man had been riding, pointing the animal in the direction of the deep forests, and gave it a slap to the rump so it would take off.

After that it took him a while to find where the dragon was being held. One hand clamped over his side, he stepped out in front of the four men. "Excuse me, but I think that's my prize." he said politely, his sword leveled at them.

Three of the others drew their swords, already pointing them at the new man, but the one at the front kept his sheathed. "Well I'm afraid we've got 'im fair and square, considering it was us that tied 'im up." he replied with a smirk.

Arthur, in his bonds, looked incredulously at Alfred. What was he thinking? Did he ever give up?! He would only get more injured.

Alfred smiled, but it wasn't a happy smile. "See, that's where you're wrong. I found him first, so he's mine. And I'll be taking him now, thanks very much." His second hand, already bloody, moved to grip the hilt of his sword as well and he rolled his shoulders, altering his stance a bit as he prepared to fight.

"Heh." This made the first fighter draw his sword, readying his stance along with the other three. "Sorry, but we won't let you do that." he said, and he brought his blade down.

Dodging the hit, Alfred spun and slashed at his sword arm, almost immediately after bringing the pommel of the sword crashing into the side of the head of one of the other men. He was a good fighter, he just wanted proper training and to be able to make a decent living out of it- something that knighthood would provide. Dancing around the other mens' hits, he suddenly found himself in the position where he was standing between the dragon and the men.

Arthur watched the men fighting with interest, and was somewhat surprised to find that Alfred could actually fight. He watched as the two men remaining in action made an amateur charge for Alfred, and decided he'd rather Alfred won; at the very least, he'd stand a higher chance escaping.

Crouching low, Alfred executed a neat upwards slash at the man on the right, slicing him across the chest, before spinning the weapon 180 degrees in his hand to stab backwards at the final man, catching him right in the hip and effectively ending the battle. Breathing slightly heavily and clutching his side again, he grinned brightly down at them. "Any of you want a second go? If not, then get out of here." he challenged.

The three peasants either scrambled to leave of lay there, not daring to get up, but the man who had been late to draw stood, holding his sword in the other hand. "I've not given up yet!"

Arthur looked at the man and his eyes flashed dangerously, and the fighter thought it was perhaps not a good idea; one opponent he could face, but an opponent _and _a dragon? On his own? Probably not.

Alfred watched him leave, and when he was gone he turned to the dragon and started cutting through its bonds. "You should probably get out of here, he'll probably come back with more people." he muttered to it when he was finished and stepped away, limping a bit because of the pain.

Rolling his shoulders to regain the feeling in his limbs, Arthur looked at Alfred slightly suspiciously. "...You're telling me to leave?" he asked, wondering why Alfred was helping him.

"Yeah. Are you deaf?" Alfred glanced at him. "As I told them, you're my prize. No one else is getting a shot at killing you. So get out of here before more of them come!"

Arthur grinned a little at this. Would he finally be rid of the brat? "That's the equivalent of letting me go, you know. I could fly off to somewhere much further away, where you won't be able to find me." The dragon glanced Alfred up and down. "Especially not if you're injured. However, if you insist..." Arthur turned to walk out of the alleyway and leave the human there.

"I'd follow you!" Alfred called to the dragon. "I'd follow you and not give up." He winced as he slid down the wall into a sitting position so he could rest a bit before inevitably having to fight all the other people that would come soon.

Arthur paused, then turned his head to look at Alfred's form slumped against the wall. About to take pity on him, Arthur moved forward before noticing the new barrage of sword-wielding humans coming their way. Though there were plenty -about 10- few of them looked like they actually knew how to use a sword. As soon as they came near Arthur jumped between them and Alfred, baring his teeth and sending his fiercest roar their way. Five of the lot went scattering; four others Arthur easily knocked to the ground in a manner of seconds. The dragon drew up to the final standing man, their leader, and drew their eyes level.

"You really think you can win against me with numbers? You humans all think that you can _kill_ me?" The words to most seemed venomous, and perhaps they were, but this time the pain in his eyes was far more evident.

"I think I can!" The voice came from the knight below as he thrust his weapon.

Arthur scowled, ignoring the sword now embedded in his foreleg, and swiped out, picking the man up and throwing him out of the alleyway. He probably broke a bone. Or two. Or many. The dragon then slid the sword out of his skin, and turned to look at Alfred, eyes still dark.

Alfred had watched the exchange with wide eyes, but now he reigned in his expression and watched the dragon neutrally. "Why'd you do that? I told you to get out of here." He sighed. "Great, now there'll be more of them after you cuz of that. Well done. Bravo."

"And if I had you'd likely be dead by now, or at least dying." Arthur said simply. "That's twice now I've saved your life. Show some gratitude."

Alfred squirmed a bit and looked anywhere but at the dragon. "Thanks, I guess." he muttered.

Arthur huffed haughtily, deciding that would be good enough for now. After a few moments he examined the man, his face and voice void of emotion. "Are you injured again?"

"Lil bit." Alfred said, hand automatically going to his side. "One of 'em nicked me. I'll be fine though..."

Thinking for just a second before moving, Arthur quickly picked up Alfred's shirt with his teeth, taking the human back to his cave. It was a short flight for him, and after dumping him on the cave floor Arthur immediately sat down in his dip, resting his head on his paws. "I don't know why I have to deal with a troublesome brat like you so much." he said with a huff.

Alfred grunted when he was unceremoniously dropped, and he didn't move from the heap he had ended up as. "Owww..." he moaned. "M'not a brat."

"Well you certainly act like one." Arthur sat and looked over his treasures, moving his foreleg so he wasn't putting pressure on the area the sword entered his body.

"I do not!" Alfred looked over at him when he moved, and he spotted the wound. This was the dragon he was supposed to kill but...well Mattie had always told him to take care of injured creatures and people, and by now it was drilled into his consciousness. So he ripped off a small bit of his own bandage- the end of it, which was still clean- and slowly came closer, taking out his water canteen along the way. "You're hurt..." he said, slightly awkwardly by way of explanation as he knelt by the foreleg and started washing it out.

Arthur looked down in surprise at the man tending to his wound, and began to watch him in interest. After a while, he looked away. "It's...not that bad." he lied quietly.

"It's pretty deep, so don't you even start with that." Alfred told him. Since he was up so close to the creature, he took the opportunity to run his hands gently across the scales nearby, marveling at their feel. Then he realized what he was doing and focused entirely on cleaning and bandaging the wound, his cheeks heating up a bit. He had just enough bandage to wrap around the injury once, and when that was done he moved away again to tend to himself.

When he removed the bloody bandages from around his middle, he couldn't hold back a wince. The gashes from where the dragon had struck him were still angry and red despite having scabbed over, and of course one of the cuts had been reopened by the sword of the messenger. He sighed softly as he used the last of his water to clean it out, but he couldn't rebandage it so he simply lay down on his uninjured side, his back to the dragon, and hoped it wouldn't start bleeding again. At least he'd get some pretty cool scars out of it...

Arthur watched Alfred's back for a while, a frown forming on his face at the wounds he himself had inflicted. "...I'm sorry about that, by the way." the dragon said, eyes on the jagged cuts.

"Yeah, no problem." Alfred said emotionlessly, curling up a bit more.

Brows furrowing even further, Arthur considered moving over there before deciding against it. "You have to understand that it was in self defense. I wasn't intending for the cuts to be so deep."

"Yeah, I- I get it." Alfred was slightly confused- this dragon wasn't really acting like he'd expect it to, but he brushed the thoughts off as he rubbed his arms, getting slightly chilly because of his lack of shirt.

Staring at Alfred's form and not quite trusting that he meant it, Arthur gave up on apologizing formally. Noticing the human's shivers, he sighed and got up, scratching at the ground in front of Alfred for a few moments before lighting a fire there. "Best I can do." he murmured.

Alfred turned around and stared at the fire in shock for a moment, before turning his gaze upwards at its creator. "T-Thanks..." He huddled as close to it as possible, still staring up at the dragon. "...You're weird."

"Weird?" Arthur tilted his head a little. "How so?" he asked, interested to see how Alfred would answer.

"Like...I guess you're not acting like I expected." Alfred shrugged a bit.

"How did you expect me to act? Like a monster who devours humans? Because I'm a dragon?"

"W-Well yeah..." Alfred shifted around. "Didn't really expect you to help me either."

"Oh please. It's basic human courtesy, is it not?" Arthur countered with a roll of his eyes.

"Human courtesy?" Alfred frowned. "You're not human, though."

Arthur looked at Alfred long and hard, trying to make up his mind. Perhaps it would be good to lower his barriers a little; he knew Alfred could fight, maybe he could help him. And it would be good to have a human connection. He had given up on himself long ago, but with somebody else, maybe... The dragon heaved a great sigh and threw dignity to the wind. "I don't know what I am now. But I was, a while ago." He watched Alfred carefully for his reaction.

"Was what?" Alfred tilted his head to the side a bit, honest confusion in his eyes.

"Human."

Alfred paused in surprise and stared at the creature. "...What happened? Do you have a name, then?"

Surprised that Alfred seemed to be willing to believe him already, the dragon settled down to talk properly. "I was cursed like this. Before then, people called me Arthur. Arthur Kirkland."

Alfred raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Cursed? Right..."

Arthur looked away- of course there hadn't been any hope of help. "If you don't believe me, that's fine. But if that's going to be the case, you'd better leave as soon as you're able."

"Wait, you were really cursed? Like, curses and magic actually exist?" The smirk was gone from his face and he leaned in, looking interested.

"Of course they do." Arthur replied. "Those stories came from truth, for the most part. Although they're a lot more...illegal now than they were."

"So...how'd it happen to you, Artie?"

Remembering the incident, Arthur started to get irritated. "It's Arthur. And some twat thought I slept around too much so used it as an excuse to turn me into...this!" The dragon huffed and calmed the tone of his voice. "I suppose I had it coming, but this went too far. And the bastard thought it'd be funny if I could only break the curse by experiencing 'real' love. Because clearly, becoming a dragon is the easiest way to find a life partner." Arthur said sarcastically.

Alfred couldn't help but chuckle at the dragon's- at Arthur's- irritation. "I like Artie." he said, shrugging. "And wooooow, that has got to be the shittiest way to get a curse put on you." He started laughing, not able to hold it in. "Must've been a real 'dragon' in bed, eh?"

Arthur glared at the other. "This isn't funny. And that doesn't even make sense." he shot.

"Sor- Sorry-" After a few moments Alfred got his laughter under control. "But uhh wow...cool, I guess? That guy must've really hated you, huh?"

"We never liked each other." Arthur haughtily agreed. "He was an irritating prick who'd use any means to annoy me."

"Heh..." Alfred suddenly went silent, remembering that he was talking normally to a _dragon_ who claimed to be a cursed human and whom Alfred wanted to kill not a day ago. "W-Well g'night!" he said after a few minutes, abruptly turning away again, back onto his uninjured side. He had a lot of thinking to do.

Arthur started at Alfred's sudden movement before sighing and heading back to his usual sleeping place. He supposed he'd find out in the morning whether Alfred would run or not.

After thinking long and hard about the situation and everything to do with it, Alfred finally managed to fall asleep. He slept fitfully and woke a few times during the night, sometimes because of his dreams, sometimes because of his fears, and other times because of the pain. He finally woke for good really early in the morning and glanced at Arthur, waiting impatiently for him to wake up as well before he lost his nerve.

Arthur awoke the next morning and stretched his front legs and wings, ready for his usual routine of hunting, flying, and foraging, before he suddenly remembered that Alfred was there. He rapidly turned his head, still in an outstretched position to find the man awake already.

Alfred stood and approached him, looking extremely awkward. His face was burning and his eyes were downcast as he gave a clumsy bow. "Uhh...sorry for tryin' to kill you and stuff... Won't do it again... And...I'll help you break your curse n' stuff..."

A tiny chuckle escaped Arthur's mouth at the human's somewhat erratic behaviour, before his face straightened out and he spoke in a stern tone. "Well... I suppose I accept. I did almost kill you too." He suddenly realized the last part and turned to face him. "What? Well, if you insist I can't deny you..."

"Yeah well..." Alfred coughed and straightened. "As a hero, it's my duty to help you!" Then he turned slightly to the side, so he was facing a bit away from the dragon.

Arthur raised a brow, amused. "Your duty? Well this is a turn up. What do you propose we do then?"

"I dunno. Wait 'til we're both healed up and then head out to find your true love, I guess..."

"Tch, true love..." Arthur muttered to himself. "All right, I'll trust you. Although I'm not really injured all that badly."

"Good for you." Alfred glanced down at his side and sighed. He must have moved abruptly during the night because there was a bit of fresh blood there, some of it already dried.

Following Alfred's gaze, the dragon felt a small tug of guilt. He suddenly got up and headed for the entrance. "I'll be back soon enough." he said as he got ready to take off.

"Sure." Alfred sank back against the wall. "I'll be here..."

Arthur flew out over the trees to the nearest town, searching for a knight's den or a medical hut. As soon as he found one, he dove down to land directly in front of it. Half an hour later he returned to the cave, handfuls of bandages in his claws, which he dumped to the ground near Alfred.

Alfred looked up with a start, staring at the bandages. "Wh-Where did you get those?"

"Knight's shelter. They had plenty spare." Arthur said bitterly. "Change your bandages."

"Thanks..." Alfred picked up one and approached him. "You first though. Give me your leg."

Arthur stared the other down, before giving in and reluctantly holding out his leg.

Alfred took it carefully in his hands and removed the old bandage, examining it. "Well...it hasn't been bleeding anymore, so that's good, so we just gotta keep it clean and stuff and it'll be good as new in a few days!" he said brightly, very lightly patting the spot before wrapping it up anew.

Wincing ever so slightly, Arthur reclaimed his leg and looked sternly at the human. "Thank you. Now you." he ordered.

"On it, on it." Alfred looked around for some water so he could wash off the new blood, but to his despair there was none. "Uhh..." he started uncomfortably. "Ya think you could do the thing again? The licking thing? Maybe?"

Arthur glanced, shocked, at the other and turned his head away somewhat awkwardly. As he shifted he thought that after all, he probably owed the human that much. "All right." he said with a sigh after some deliberation, and he moved closer to Alfred. "Stand still... And don't complain." With that, he began to lick the area clean, wrinkling his nose slightly at the taste.

Alfred winced at first, but then groaned in relief as the wounds were cleaned. He lightly scratched Arthur under the chin as thanks. "Thank you, Artie..."

Lifting his head up a little to give Alfred more space, Arthur was surprised to find the sensation at least somewhat pleasant. "Well if we're going to be working together, I should be working with you." he said by way of explanation.

"Guesso." Alfred looked up and paused, suddenly marveling that he was so close to a dragon- a dragon!- without being in immediate danger. His eyes widened a bit and he impulsively ran his hands over Arthur's snout.

It wasn't that Arthur _liked_ the feeling, it was simply easier to stay put than bother moving away right now. "What's with this, hm?"

"What?" Alfred seemed to realize what he was doing, and his hands froze where they were, cupping Arthur's cheeks. "O-Oh, sorry..." He lifted them away.

Arthur watched Alfred's response, somewhat amused, and let out a small chuckle. "Now get your bandage on." he said, pushing the remaining pile of bandages towards him.

"Don't laugh." Alfred muttered, turning away from him and starting to carefully wrap up his own side again. He paused though, when another thought struck him. "You aren't...poisonous or anything, right?"

"Don't be ridiculous." Arthur lectured. "If I had that sort of venom in me, do you really think I'd _lick_ your wound clean? You're lucky I didn't bite you."

"Why would you bite me?"

"I wouldn't usually. But if I had, it would have probably been worse." the dragon explained.

"Oh. Yeah. Probably would be." Alfred looked up at him. "...Right, so basically all we need to do to break this curse on you is get you to fall in love?"

"Essentially, yes. But I'm rather picky. And in case you didn't notice, I don't have much opportunity for positive human interaction."

Alfred rolled his eyes. "You think I don't know that? Couldn't we just like...go to the person who cursed you and ask him nicely to turn you back? I could even use my secret weapon!"

"Secret weapon?" Arthur asked, frowning at the human.

"One moment." Alfred turned away from him and prepared himself. "Give me a lick on the cheek?" he then asked, spinning around again and turning the full force of his puppy eyes on the dragon.

Startled by this sudden change, Arthur stared at the other for a few moments. "...Don't be stupid! Why would I do that...?" he asked, unable to tear his gaze away. No way would something like that work...

Alfred continued staring at him with the eyes, widening them even more and adding in a little lip tremble as well. "Please?" he asked in a small voice.

Arthur scowled, wide-eyed, and began to emit a small growl at the back of his throat before leaning down and quickly licking the man's cheek, immediately returning upright and looking away, narrow-eyed. "There. Happy?"

Immediately, Alfred broke into a grin and laughed. "See? Secret weapon."

Arthur's scowl deepened, feeling like he had been made a fool of. "That probably wouldn't work on Francis. And I'm fairly sure nor would 'asking nicely'."

"Don't scowl so much, or it'll stick like that." Alfred patted his shoulder and then moved away, putting his torn shirt back on. "Well then I guess there's nothing for it than just traveling around and hopefully some girl won't run away screaming that you'll like." A part of him still couldn't believe that he was doing this when so recently he had wanted to kill Arthur, but if what the dragon said was true, then he was a person in need of a hero. And that hero was Alfred. And if it happened not to be true well...at least he'd die on an adventure.

"Yes, hopefully..." Arthur agreed quietly, trying to think of any other possibilities. None came to mind.

"Cool." Alfred slid down against the wall again, facing Arthur. "So tell me more about yourself. What was your life like before this? How long were you cursed for?"

Arthur gave a short, bitter laugh. "My life before this was drink, work, and sex. That all stopped about... Twenty years ago? Perhaps a little less."

"That's it?" Alfred frowned a bit. "No enjoyment or happiness? I find that kinda hard to believe..."

"That _was_ my enjoyment, Alfred... If it wasn't that, I was goofing around with the others."

"Oh... Like doing what?"

Arthur closed his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. "Like sitting on the farms, smoking those new 'tobacco leaf' things, watching them as they made plans for pranks, just normal things. I barely remember."

Alfred heard the sigh and shrugged. "That's cool, I guess. But fine, fine, I'll stop asking."

Cracking his eyes open slightly, he looked at the human. "...What about you? You would remember better than I would anyway."

"What about me what?"

"What is your life, outside of hunting dragons?"

"Tending fields, mostly." Alfred shrugged. "Poor, remember? Then I sometimes help Mattie out with tending to people, and I practice sword fighting with him in the evenings whenever we both have time..."

"So he's a...doctor, then?" Arthur asked. "And that explains how you can handle a sword..." he said to himself thoughtfully.

"Yeah! Doctor, healer, that sort. He can fix anything." Alfred grinned. "What, did you really expect me to go after a dragon not knowing how to fight at all?"

"You seem just about moronic enough." the dragon replied with a hint of humour.

"I do not!" Alfred's grin vanished, replaced by a pout.

"You were _very_ insistent on taking me down even though it was clear you wouldn't win." Arthur began to smirk a toothy smirk, ever so slightly.

"Heroes don't give up." Alfred muttered.

"Well there's a fine line between bravery and foolishness, 'hero'."

"I wasn't foolish! I could still take you down, but I don't wanna at the moment." Alfred sniffed. "And I _am_ a hero!"

Arthur looked away with a huff of laughter. "Of course, of course."

"Hey!" Alfred pouted more.

"What?" Arthur asked, looking at the human with one brow raised.

"Don't doubt me, meanie!"

"Meanie? I'm a dragon, human. I'm more than just a 'meanie'. So of course, I doubt you'd be able to take me down if you wanted to." Arthur's head snaked around to view Alfred, lowering slightly.

"Hah, so you admit to being a meanie!"

"I never denied it."

Alfred impulsively reached out and scratched Arthur under the chin again. "Heh, meanie Artie."

Arthur frowned at the name, but closed his eyes at the satisfaction of the feeling, stretching his neck out ever so slightly. "I'd prefer if you didn't call me that." he grumbled.

Noticing his reaction, Alfred continued the scratching, adding in his second hand. "Fine, Artie."

The dragon relaxed at the touch and leaned slightly into it. "The name is still Arthur."

"The nickname is still Artie." Alfred chuckled a bit and scratched him a bit more vigorously.

"...Do whatever you please." Arthur mumbled, starting to purr lowly.

Alfred laughed again. "Is this a soft side I see comin' out?" he asked, grinning as he scratched away.

A small growl emitted from Arthur's throat before he resumed purring. "Don't think it's because of you." he shot, eyes cracking open to glare at the human, though he somewhat contradicted himself with the amount he was reveling in the sensation of Alfred's fingers under his chin.

"Sure. And when was the last time you purred for a 'human'?"

"Hmph. It's not as if I can help it." Arthur huffed back.

"Heh. If you want I can stop?" Alfred said innocently, and withdrew his hands.

Arthur let out another growl and scowled at the human. "You may do whatever you wish."

"Well, not really, since it's got to do with you." Alfred tilted his head to the side. "You get a say too..."

"...I don't mind either way."

Alfred chuckled and patted his nose. "Maybe later. You got any food?"

Huffing, Arthur turned towards the entrance. "No, but I'll go and get some. I hope you like meat."

Alfred shrugged and relaxed on the floor. "I'll manage."

With a final nod, Arthur took off to hunt. Within thirty minutes he was back with half a deer and two rabbits. "Take your pick." the dragon said, depositing the meat by Alfred.

Alfred took the larger of the rabbits and retreated to his backpack. He got out a small pocket knife, a collapsible pot, and a sack of vegetables and spices. "You think you can start a fire? And maybe get some water?"

"...Are you planning to make a meal?" Arthur asked incredulously, before heading to the charred patch of floor. A moment later, a small amount of flames were leaping up from the ground, and he retreated. "All right, back in a moment."

"Yup!" Alfred replied cheerfully, setting up the pot over the fire by propping it up on some sticks. "I've got some carrots and stuff left, so I might as well use 'em to make a stew before they go bad! And sure, see ya."

Arthur returned a few minutes later with his basket full of water and sat by Alfred's pot, somewhat interested in the making of the stew.

"Thanks!" Alfred poured the water in and tossed in some salt from his spice sack, and while he waited for it to heat up he skinned the rabbit, setting the almost complete pelt off to the side- he could decide what to do with it later, perhaps some hunter or trader would want it. He cut the meat and vegetables into pieces and tossed them in as well, and then stirred the whole thing with another stick that he stripped of its bark.

"You're welcome." Arthur replied quietly, watching with rapt attention.

Alfred looked up and noticed his face. "Bet you haven't had anything like this in years. You want some when it's done?"

Startled slightly, Arthur looked across to Alfred. "...I haven't eaten a meal in a long time. I barely remember how to cook..." he answered with a small nod.

Smiling softly, Alfred walked over to him and sat down, leaning against him. His eyes were full of sympathy. "I'm sorry... I promise I'll help you break your curse! But in the meantime, let's get some proper food in you, yeah? When it's done, of course!"

Arthur's eyes followed Alfred to where he sat before glancing up at the pot. "How long will that take?" he asked, wondering if he'd even like stew.

"Uhh, few minutes? Maaaaybe like an hour?" Alfred gestured to him. "Here, bring your head close. I can scratch you while we wait, maybe get you to lose the grumpypants attitude a bit more."

Arthur huffed and lowered his head towards Alfred. "What 'grumpypants attitude'?"

Alfred lifted his hands and started scratching him again. "The one you're always wearing. The 'oh look at me I'm a fierce and unapproachable and grumpy dragon get away from me I don't like you' attitude."

"Hmph." Arthur sighed as his eyes fluttered closed. "Well I am and I don't."

"Aww, you don't like me?" Alfred nudged him with his elbow to get him to open his eyes and gave him the puppy eyes again.

"I'm not in the habit of liking humans." Arthur replied as he looked at the man, before frowning and looking away from those bright eyes.

"Oh..." Alfred looked down and his scratching faltered for a moment. "But hey, at least you don't wanna kill me anymore..." he said, trying to be cheerful though his voice came out oddly hollow.

Arthur sighed- what a difficult man he'd picked up. "Why would it matter to you anyway? We've barely known each other a day without trying to kill one another."

"So?" Alfred shrugged. "Doesn't mean you can't start to like someone after a day..." He sighed and picked up the pace of his scratching again. "Just...never mind, I guess."

"As I said, I don't particularly _like_ anybody." Arthur said as he closed his eyes again.

"Mhm." Alfred tried not to think about it too much.

Giving up, Arthur sat in silence, enjoying the scratching so much he started to purr again after a short while.

Alfred smiled a bit when he heard the dragon's purrs. He glanced over at the stew to make sure it wasn't bubbling over or burning before focusing back on the dragon. He rested his head lightly against Arthur's neck as he scratched. The scales were warm, and he found himself relaxing immensely, more than he'd ever imagined to in his presence.

Arthur opened his eyes for a moment, glancing at the human before he shut them again and relaxed into the feeling, his purring becoming stronger.

The scratching continued for a few more minutes, until Alfred's arm started to ache. His strokes got lazier and lazier until his hand finally fell away.

Arthur let out a short hum of disapproval, a crease appearing in his brow. He turned his head slightly, so as not to disturb the other too much, and asked why he stopped.

"Sorry man, but my arm kinda died on me." Alfred shook his shoulder, causing his arm to flop around a bit. "I need a break."

"...Very well." The dragon simply looked forward again, letting Alfred stay leaned against his neck.

Alfred nodded, but after a while got up to check on the soup and stir it. "I think it's ready!"

Arthur turned towards him in interest. "Ah, is it?"

"Yup!" Alfred got out a wooden bowl and a small ladle and filled it up, setting it aside for himself. He then gestured to the pot. "Go ahead."

"Is that all right?" Arthur asked, tilting his head a little before moving towards the pot. He gave it a quick, tentative sniff before lapping some up into his mouth.

"Yeah! Eat the rest if you want." Alfred said, sitting back and starting to wolf down his own portion. "Fo wha do ya fink?"

"Don't talk with your mouth full." Arthur snapped after swallowing his. "...It's rather nice, I suppose." he admitted afterwards, and began lapping up the rest with his tongue.

Alfred swallowed his portion and then stuck out his tongue at him.

Upon noticing this, the dragon narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"'Don't talk with your mouth full', meh." Alfred mimicked, grinning.

"Hmph. Well it's rude."

"Eh." Alfred shrugged. "But it was okay, right? The stew?"

"Yes, it's fine." Arthur said gratefully. It was more than fine, especially for somebody who hadn't eaten a meal in a good twenty years. "...Thank you."

"No need to thank me, Artie. I'll make it again if I can get the stuff for it!" Alfred glanced at the pot and decided he'd clean it up later. "All right, all right, so now we have to come up with a game plan. What kinds of girls, or boys, could you see yourself possibly falling in love with? Like personality and character-wise?"

Arthur thought about this for a moment. "That's rather difficult... I suppose, if I had to, I'd rather they were charming. Lady-like and sophisticated, but also genuine and not weak-willed."

"So girls then..." Alfred murmured, going off the description he gave. He thought about it all for a moment. "Uhh, we could try the bigger cities... I could maybe go in and try to talk to some girls, explain your situation and stuff, and if they want bring them to you?"

"That sounds like a good plan. We'd have to spend a limited amount of time in the larger cities, to avoid knights on our tails."

"All right. But...what do we do if they don't...take it well? Just leave them? They might tell someone, we'd have to get out of there pretty fast..."

"That's what I'm saying. Perhaps only one day in the biggest cities, round up as many as possible and see what they're like? Although I honestly don't think many would take it well..." Arthur looked towards the entrance thoughtfully.

"That sounds good. We're sure to find your girl, though!" Alfred grinned encouragingly. "My charm plus your... Well my charm is sure to draw lots in!"

"Mm, and when they meet me?" Arthur's brow rose questioningly.

"...Don't be too grumpy?"

"Thank you. Excellent advice." Arthur huffed and turned his head away. "I think you'll find I'm rather popular with the women, although possibly not like this."

"Well I don't know, just let 'em know as soon as possible you don't wanna kill them!"

"Isn't that your job?" Arthur sighed. "Well I'm sure we'll get at least a few."

"Dude, if I just go up to a bunch of girls and say 'Hey, my friend Arthur is kind of cursed to be a dragon and needs to fall in love with one of you to break it', they'll look at me like I'm crazy and I might even get locked up for insanity."

"So what exactly will you tell them?"

"Hmm..." Alfred thought for a moment. "That I have a friend called Arthur who had noticed them from afar and was interested, and since he's a bit of a pussy when it comes to these things he asked me to talk with them first and if they show interest back, then I'll take 'em to you!"

"That's lying..." Arthur sighed again. "But I suppose we've no other choice."

"I'll apologize to them later!"

"You'd better."

"Oh hush, hush, I said I would, no?" Alfred made a papping motions at him. "When d'you wanna go?"

Arthur looked the other over quickly. "Whenever you're healed up for it." he answered.

"Oh I'm ready any time."

"All right, well we should probably get another night's rest first, and have a full day to start with."

"Sure then." Alfred glanced outside to find the sky already growing pink. "So you wanna sleep now? Oh, and hey, whatcha gonna do with the treasure pile when we're gone?"

Nodding at the first question, Arthur suddenly looked towards his treasure. He hadn't thought about that... "Ah... Bury it?" Was the first thing he thought.

Alfred laughed. "What, you're a pirate dragon now?"

"Well I can dig." Arthur insisted. "Have you any better plans?"

"Make it rain over poor areas." Alfred said, grinning.

Arthur stared at him, shocked. "My treasure?! But... You do realize I'll be a peasant too, once my curse is released? I need it just as much as any other man..."

"Well not _all_ of it. But some!"

Arthur threw a worried glance to the precious treasures he had collected over the years. "I...I don't know."

"Eh, think about it." Alfred patted him, and then curled up on the ground. "G'night!" he said, though his voice was just slightly higher than normal.

"...Good night." Arthur stood there for a few more moments, before heading towards his dip and trying to fall asleep, his eye on the treasure all the while.

"Night!" Alfred did manage fall asleep eventually, but he was woken in the middle of the night by a draft of wind that just happened to blow in the precise direction that would cause it to wash over him. He got up, shivering, and slowly approached the dragon. "...Artie?"

The dragon, only half-asleep, blearily opened one eye and directed it at the man. "Hm? What is it?"

Alfred rubbed at his arms, his thin, ragged shirt doing nothing to keep the wind out. "C-Cold..."

Arthur huffed, too tired to get up and make a proper fire, so instead he lifted a wing to gesture for Alfred to come closer, lazily blowing a small fire to life right in front of him.

"Thank you!" Alfred rushed to his side, curling up against the warm scales and letting out a content sigh.

Murmuring a hum of welcome, Arthur relaxed and let his soft wing fall to cover Alfred like a blanket, letting out another huff as he settled himself back down to sleep.

Alfred yawned and snuggled down, nuzzling against him for a brief moment before sleep and warmth overtook him again.

* * *

**A/N**: So yeah, there are gonna be a few lady OCs in this, but they don't play very big roles and will be gone within the chapter~ Still, please no hate about any of the ladies.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Next chapter and first of the ladies~

* * *

Arthur woke first the next morning. He was almost surprised for a split second but then remembered he had let the human under his wing. He looked down at him for a few moments before lightly blowing out the fire. Alfred was still sleeping soundly, and he'd somehow managed to wrap his arms around Arthur's foreleg, and was now hugging it.

It took a while for Arthur to notice this because he was so tired, but when he did, his eyes widened a fair amount. "Hey." he hissed, gently nudging the other by moving his foreleg. "Wake up."

"Mmm-" Alfred groaned and clung to his leg tighter and nuzzled to it a bit as he frowned. "Nooo...sleep..."

Arthur rolled his eyes. How did someone so lazy expect to kill dragons and go on epic adventures for heroism? He flicked and retracted his wing, letting in the fresh air and blazing sunshine. "I'm already wide awake."

"Mm-!" Alfred let out another moan as the sunlight hit his face and buried it deeper into Arthur's scales. Finding the darkness he wanted, he was soon sleeping again, faint snores coming from him.

Arthur sighed and lay there for about a quarter of an hour before getting bored again and jabbing Alfred quickly with his elbow. "Come on."

"Oof-" The air was forced from his lungs and Alfred jumped. "Oi! What was that for? You're lucky you hit my uninjured side, you know..." he muttered as he rubbed at his side and yawned.

"You're lucky you woke up with that." Arthur murmured in return. "Now stop pretending my arm is your girlfriend and get up."

"Hmph." Though Alfred supposed it wasn't really that surprising that Arthur didn't really care that he could have hurt him. "I wasn't pretending anything like that. I'm just used to sleeping with my arms around something. Usually it's Mattie- we share a bed cuz it's easier plus one bed costs less than two."

Arthur raised a brow blankly. "Well I do hope this won't become a regular occurrence."

"Can't promise that..." Alfred muttered quietly, mostly to himself. "So we eat then move on, or move on now and stop to eat later?"

"We can eat now if you're hungry." Arthur replied. He could hold off quite easily from food- whilst his stomach was larger in this form, his appetite hadn't increased much.

"Nah, I'm good. Wait- are you gonna bury that or what?" Alfred suddenly pointed to the pile of treasure.

Arthur looked in the direction the man was pointing. "Ah... Yes, well, I'll probably have to take it to the woods somewhere..."

"And how do you wanna do that?"

Arthur nodded to the basket he used to carry water. "That should probably do it." he answered.

"You'll have to make a few trips."

"...Yes..."

"All right. Have fun!" Alfred moved to the darkest corner of the cave and sprawled out; seconds later, he was snoring again.

Arthur rolled his eyes and set about piling his treasure in the water basket. He carried it over the forest until he found a good landmark- a clearing with an old oak at the north of it. Setting down, he dug a deep hole under the oak, on the side of the roots facing away from the clearing.

After about three trips back and forth, he came back and nudged Alfred. "How did you fall asleep _again_?!"

"Mmm? Alfred raised his head slightly, blinking. "M'tired."

"It's almost noon."

"So?"

"So get up. We should be leaving."

"Did you finish with the...the thingy?"

Arthur sighed. "Yes, I did."

"M'kay. Gimmie like a minute." Alfred rolled over again.

"If you fall asleep again, I swear..." Arthur waited obediently though.

A few grunts came from Alfred's direction. Then, about a minute later, he sat up, grinning. "Morning! Ready to go?"

Arthur blinked, surprised by this sudden change. "I've been ready for hours."

"Oh. Well I'm not a morning person." Alfred stood and quickly packed, stifling a yawn along the way.

"I can tell..." Arthur muttered in response, making sure he was ready too. "Where to first? Just the first place we come to?"

"Sure, why not?" Alfred paused. "Um...how are we gonna travel?"

"...I can fly, in case you didn't notice."

Alfred gave him a look. "I know that. But what about me?"

"I can carry you." Arthur responded as if it were obvious. "Thought don't be expecting me to do all of the work. We'll walk some of the way."

"Oh... Didn't really expect you to let me..." Alfred slowly approached him.

"Why so tentative?" Arthur asked, a slight smirk crossing his face.

"Don't wanna piss you off. Sorry for tryin' to be nice." Alfred reached his side and looked up at him.

Arthur crouched down a little and looked at the other expectantly. "Hop on. Unless you want me to take you in my paw?"

"I'm good." Alfred quickly mounted him, a little awkward at first because he had never done anything like this in his life- horses were much different than dragons- but soon he was settled comfortably on his back. "Is this okay?"

A slight uncomfortable grunt came from him as the human clambered on. "It's fine. Fair warning though." Arthur replied. He readied his hind legs and jumped, quickly spreading his wings to catch the wind.

Alfred just managed to hold in a scream and clung tightly to his neck.

Arthur chuckled and leveled out, gliding through the sky, only occasionally beating his wings. "Sorry, did I frighten you?"

"N-No, pshh I wasn't scared at all!" Alfred declared, his voice a bit higher than usual.

"Of course not." Arthur replied disbelievingly and suddenly beat his wings, causing his body to jump up slightly.

"Ah!" The short shriek tore itself from Alfred's throat before he could stop it and he huddled down more on the dragon's back. "N-Not cool!"

A small laugh escaped from Arthur. "Ah, I see. Not at all scared."

"S-Shut up! That was mean!"

"It's just flying, honestly. It's not as if I'm going to drop you."

"I hope not." Alfred squeaked.

"Of course I won't." Arthur said with a flick of his tail, and he resumed his normal flying pattern.

"Good." Alfred patted his shoulder lightly and slowly relaxed. He loosened his hold just a bit and straightened up, starting to look around and admire the view.

"...It's wonderful up here, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Alfred chuckled a bit. "Not many people ever get a chance to see this, huh? Thanks."

"Heh." Arthur looked around a little himself. "I guess this is one of the few things I like about this curse."

"What else do you like about it?"

Arthur flashed a wicked grin in Alfred's direction. "Scaring people."

"I could see how that would be fun..." Alfred said, and then brightened. "Ooh, I bet you have some good stories of people's reactions to the scaring!"

"Heheh, a few..."

"Share!"

"Hmm, well... My favourite would have to be, one time, as I was washing by the river, a noble was wandering by. Quite a large one, may I add, with a wig and all." Arthur chuckled a little remembering it. "Anyway, he didn't realize I was there until he turned around. I hit him with a full on roar and next thing I knew, he fell backwards into the river-"

Alfred burst out laughing. "Pfft, I bet he pissed himself!"

Arthur quickly joined in on the laughter. "Well, I do think the water level rose an inch- You should have seen him though- wig askew, river weeds hanging off."

"Heh." Alfred wiped tears of mirth from his eyes when the laughter finally subsided. "Ahh, I wish I could have seen it."

"It was rather amusing. Nobles have to have the best reactions; the just don't know what to do with themselves."

"Yeah, cuz like, they never expect to see anything like it. We peasants have seen some pretty weird shit."

"That's true enough. I mean we see the nobles; that's as weird as it gets." the dragon said.

"What class were you? Y'know, before?"

"Ah, well..." Arthur began tentatively. He didn't really like to bring this up, but... "I come from a merchant family. I lived as a simple peasant though, nobody really knew. We were hardly high up, just simple traders. Still got into some trouble for it though..."

"Oh. Still better off than most. What happened though? What trouble?"

"You know... Most people tend to automatically dislike those directly above them in the pecking order. Even if we're not really all that much better off..." Arthur sighed slightly. "And I had it coming at me from both sides, too. Everyone above us looked down on us, everyone below hated us."

Alfred felt kind of bad, because he most likely would have at the very least resented Arthur as well. "Oh..." he said softly.

Arthur stayed silent for a moment before suddenly changing the topic so he wouldn't reveal any more of his past. "So, which way should we go?"

"Wherever ya want, buddy."

Arthur raised a brow at the nickname, and then decided to fly west. After quite a short time of flight, he spotted a small town and angled towards it. "Would that be a good place to start? I don't really know how to do this..."

"Sure, I guess. I dunno how to do it either, but land a bit away."

"All right." Five minutes later, Arthur landed about a mile from the town, crouching so Alfred could get off.

Alfred hopped off and immediately fell to the ground, kissing it.

Arthur rolled his eyes at the other. "How long do you think you'll take?"

"I dunno." Alfred rolled over and stood up. "Maybe an hour, maybe more? Wait here, kay?"

"All right." Arthur sat where he was to wait for Alfred.

"See ya, then!" Alfred waved to him and set off towards the town. It took him about twenty minutes to reach the town, and another ten to locate a potential girl and flag her down. "Hello there, Miss!" he said brightly.

"Ah... H-Hello." she replied, pleasantly surprised. "May I help you, Mister...?"

"I'm Alfred!" the blond said, bowing gracefully. "It's a pleasure, Miss...?"

"Jessica." the woman replied, smiling cheerfully at Alfred.

"Well, Miss Jessica, I have a friend. He noticed you one day and was taken by your beauty, but he's terribly shy." Alfred gave her a hopeful smile. "So I'm helping him out. Would you mind coming to meet him? His name's Arthur."

"Ah, really?" Jessica smiled a rather shy and nervous, but pleasured, smile. "Well... All right, I may as well. May I bring a friend?"

"A friend? Sure, if you want!"

Jessica nodded her head slightly and gestured to somebody behind Alfred. "Ah, there she is! Kathy!" she said as she introduced the two. She turned to the man. "So, uh, where is he?"

"Hi Kathy!" Alfred grinned at the new girl. "He's kinda super shy so he fled to the woods."

"All right. Well, shall we go? Although I must warn you, I'm a rather good fighter if you try anything." the woman chuckled.

"I won't, hero's promise!" He led them back to where Arthur was waiting.

As Arthur sat there, he grew steadily more nervous. After all, this was practically his first time meeting somebody in a long time. And he was hardly expecting a positive reaction. He stood up straight, waiting for Alfred to return with someone.

Jessica and Kathy, pleasantly chatting with Alfred, entered the area where the dragon was standing. They immediately screamed, Kathy running off with Jessica quickly following behind.

Alfred ran after them. "H-Hey wait!" He easily overtook them and then blocked their paths. "C'mon, he won't hurt you, please!"

"Are you insane? What do you plan to do with us?" Jessica screamed, tears forming in her eyes as she tried to push past.

"Please! That's Arthur! He was cursed and he really needs your help, you gotta trust me!"

"I am not going near that... That _thing_!"

"Jessica, let's go!" the other woman said desperately, tugging at her arm.

"He's not a thing!" Alfred cried at them, but deep inside sighed. These girls were terrified, and terrified people had a knack for not listening or being reasonable. If they still wanted to leave, he'd let them.

Jessica sent a glare Alfred's way before following the tug on her arm, dashing back to her town as fast as her feet allowed.

All the while, Arthur sat thinking. Of course that'd be their reaction, he'd been expecting as much, but still, it was hardly desirable...

Alfred watched them leave, shoulders slumping. He slowly made his way back to Arthur. Of course he'd been expecting there to be some fear, but it still hurt him, especially their words. _Artie's not a thing..._ "I-I'm sorry Artie..." he murmured, unable to look the dragon in the eye.

"Can't be helped." Arthur muttered. "They're human, after all."

"Still..." Alfred sat down on the ground away from him. He pulled his knees up to his and hugged them, resting his chin on top and staring out into the surrounding foliage as thoughts of guilt and sadness overtook him. He should have explained better, he should have made them promise not to run...

Arthur sighed quietly. It was him who had to put up with this treatment, and yet... "I hadn't expected much better the first time anyway. I mean, not many girls would even go with a guy just because he asked them... I'm used to it, so don't worry."

"I should have done better though..."

"You did just fine."

"B-But they ran away..." Alfred let out a low sigh.

"Of course they did." Arthur said simply. "I am a dragon. Most people will be terrified of me..."

"But you're a person too! If they'd just stop and listen, I could explain! You deserve a chance at breaking that thing!"

"And you think they'd believe you?!" Arthur looked at the other and sighed. "But thank you."

Alfred let out another harsh breath and stood, face still dark and drawn. "Let's just get out of here..."

"All right." Arthur crouched ready, after moving closer to the human. "Where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere. Just get away from here." Alfred climbed on and settled down, burying his face in his arms.

Arthur closed his eyes a moment before gently taking off, flying away from the town.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N**: Sorry for the long wait, but this week was hell. But here ya go!

* * *

Alfred stayed in that position the whole entire time, not once looking around. Eventually he was able to relax and some of the tension flowed out of him. That had only been the first try. There would be others, and other girls too. It would work eventually.

Arthur landed by a river, staying in the overgrown forest and crouching to let Alfred off.

"Thanks." Alfred slid off him and looked up into his face, a small smile on his lips. "Sorry for the episode back there..." He knew he tended to blame himself if things went wrong, even if he didn't necessarily have control over how events played out. But he always got out of the slump soon enough.

"It's fine." the dragon replied, standing upright again as he looked down at Alfred.

"Are we here for another town, or just to rest?"

"We can rest now before moving on. You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Arthur asked.

Alfred shook his head. "Not today." Right on cue, his stomach let out a massive grumble and he clapped a hand over it, an embarrassed flush creeping over his face. "You wanna hunt, or should I?"

The dragon chuckled a little, stretching his wings ready. "I can go."

"All right, see ya!"

Within seconds Arthur was in the sky, and he returned not too long after with a whole deer. He dropped it near Alfred before settling down.

Not expecting the animal, Alfred started and let out a short shriek. "Oh hey there, that's big."

The dragon raised a brow at this reaction. "Yes, I suppose it is. Is there a problem?"

"No, not at all! Are you gonna want some?"

"I haven't eaten yet, but I can easily wait."

"You can have some! I won't eat all of it anyway!" Alfred cut off a leg with his knife and then pushed the rest of it towards Arthur.

"Well, if you're sure..." Arthur munched on the carcass gratefully, lying on his stomach to eat. "Thank you."

"Why're you thanking me?" Alfred asked curiously. "Nothin' to thank me for."

"For giving me some." Arthur replied. "What, is there something wrong with me showing gratitude?" he asked defensively.

"No, not at all!"

"Hmph. Good." Arthur huffed, continuing to eat his portion.

Alfred cut up his own pieces and looked around. "Uhh, do ya think you could start a fire for me?"

Looking up with a slight frown, Arthur's brow unfurrowed in comprehension moments later. "Yes, of course." he said, walking over. He pushed a few twigs together and blew a fire onto them.

"Thanks!" Alfred skewered the meat onto a stick and held it over the fire, his stomach grumbling as he watched it cook.

Arthur barely held in a chuckle. "Not at all." the dragon replied, finishing his piece and chewing on the bone a little.

Alfred watched him and snorted. "You look like a dog."

Narrowing his eyes at the other, Arthur slowly let go of the bone. "It's good for my teeth."

"Still look like a dog!"

"Well I am _not_."

"Obviously not." Alfred rolled his eyes and focused back on the meat.

After a moment Arthur- definitely not a dog- resumed gnawing on the bone, muttering to himself. "At least I don't eat like a savage."

"Oi! I don't eat like a savage!"

Arthur raised a brow. "Oh no, not at all. I mean eating with your hands is perfectly elegant."

"Hey! I don't have any utensils here!"

"You had a bowl. And a cooking pot." Arthur mockingly furrowed his brow. "Are you telling me you forgot the knife and fork?"

"Dude, I'm poor. You really think I had a whole bunch of extra knives and forks that I could just take along? I was lucky Mattie insisted I take the bowl and spoon."

Arthur went silent for a moment before looking down. "...I was just making a point." he said gruffly, returning to his bone.

"It's all right." Alfred said softly. "Didn't mean ta make it sound like I was guilting you or anythin'..."

"Of course you didn't." Arthur replied, trying to reply in a tone that showed he didn't care, though he failed slightly in that endeavour.

"Yeah..." Alfred pulled the second bit of meat from the fire, though he did try and eat it as cleanly as he could manage.

The dragon continued with his bone, glancing at Alfred every so often as he waited for him to finish. As his mood gradually increased, he spoke again. "So do you want to stop off here for the night, or continue moving?"

"Whatever you wanna do."

"...It would probably be good to stay here. I'm still not quite used to this sort of contact; I wouldn't like to face it too much in a day." Arthur looked at the river. "Plus, you can clean all your things and refill on water."

"Yeah, that's true. Hey, mind if I take a bath?"

"Not at all, go ahead. I should probably have one too." the dragon said with a nod of his head.

With that, Alfred stripped.

Arthur stared, unable to look away fro a moment, before his gaze finally broke free and sought any sight but Alfred. "What the _hell_ are you doing?!"

Alfred glanced at him. "I'm going to take a bath..."

"I didn't think you'd just- you're naked!"

"Wow, no kidding." Alfred turned to face him.

Arthur risked a glance before rapidly turning his head away again, embarrassed enough that his scales seemed to turn just a bit darker. "In front of me?!"

"Like what ya see?" Alfred asked, grinning after he noticed the peek, and then he shrugged. "Oh sorry, does his Royal Grumpiness need like a half-mile innocence radius?"

"No." Arthur denied immediately, turning to frown and becoming redder as the human continued. "And no! I just- I didn't think you would _strip_!"

"You're gettin' a bit err...red there... S'that part of the curse too? Why wouldn't I strip? I won't go bathing while still clothed."

"No, no it is not!" the dragon insisted, though he was growing redder by the second. "Well, yes, but... I didn't expect you to just strip in front of me!"

"Oh sorry, I'll give you a warning next time!" Alfred turned away and stalked off towards the river.

"Next time?!" Well, Arthur would admit that the human was handso- no. But he was at least well buil- _no_. His body was quite goo- no! And Arthur was most definitely _not_ keeping an eye on the lower regions of Alfred's back as he walked away. "Just take your bloody bath..." he muttered.

"Yeah, yeah." Alfred reached the river after a short while and took a dip. When he reemerged, he was faced with a dilemma. How the hell was he supposed to get dry?! He didn't bring a towel or anything... Oh well. He wandered back, still naked though now wet as well.

Arthur began his own bathing, gently licking his scales clean. He heard footsteps and glanced up, still cleaning himself, only for his eyes to widen as he froze at the sight. After a moment, he furiously resumed his cleaning process, determined not to notice the man though his scales still burned a deep red.

Alfred chuckled. "What? Still embarrassed?

"I am not embarrassed!"

"Tell that to your red scales, hah!" Alfred grinned and stepped over to the fire, hoping the heat would dry the water off.

"I-I am not! This is because of the...cleaning..."

"Yeah, sure. I saw it before the cleaning!" Alfred insisted.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Arthur evaded.

"Yeah, right."

"What? I don't..."

"Mhm, sure." Alfred changed positions a bit so more of his body was exposed to the warmth.

Arthur's eyes widened yet again, and he turned his face away. "Just...put some damn clothes on, will you?"

"I gotta dry off first!" Alfred bent down to bring his upper half closer, the muscles of his shoulders rippling beneath his skin.

"Well then do it quicker!"

"Heat can only go so fast! You wanna help or somethin'?"

"...Help how...?" Arthur was tentative to use his fire too near the human for obvious reasons.

"I dunno, like lick or something?"

"...Lick?!"

"Don't look at me like that! Was just a suggestion. Just look away then, if you've got such a problem with it."

Arthur tutted quietly to himself. "It's not like I have a _problem_ with it..." As if he would be that weak. "But I am still a human being really."

"Yeah, and? Never seen another guy naked before?"

"Well I've never licked one."

"Fine, then wait until I'm dry."

Arthur huffed and looked away."...How long will that take?"

"I dunno."

"Wonderful." the dragon muttered. "It better not take too long."

Alfred sighed, but a few minutes later he was dry enough to dress. When he was finished with that he glanced at Arthur- sleeping with him last night was really comfortable and warm and easy, but he doubted the dragon would want to repeat it, so he just lay down on the ground.

"...What are you doing?" Arthur asked when he saw Alfred on the floor.

"Going to sleep, right?" Alfred smiled at him. "G'night, Artie."

"Won't you be cold? Not to mention uncomfortable..." the dragon continued after a pause.

The smile slipped a bit, but then returned full force. "It's all right, I'm used to it a lil bit by now."

"...And you'd be an open target..." Arthur suddenly realized.

"...What?"

"Well it just seems a bit vulnerable, lying on the floor like that. If anybody came along..."

Alfred shrugged lightly. "I could handle myself. He looked up at the dragon. "What, are you suggesting an alternative?"

Arthur sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't know... I suppose you could sleep under my wing."

"Really?" Alfred raised an eyebrow in surprise. "I dunno, I wouldn't want to bother you..."

"Well it would hardly do to have my only human contact savaged or stolen, now, wouldn't it?" Arthur brushed off gently.

"Guesso." Alfred stood up and dusted himself off a bit before slowly approaching Arthur. "...You finished cleaning yourself?"

"Almost." Arthur replied, quickly licking his paws and washing his face with them before lying on his stomach. "All right."

"Aww." Alfred whispered, watching him with a small smile growing on his face. He walked over to Arthur's head and gently scratched him under the chin for a moment. "Thanks, Artie."

"I keep telling you, my name is Arthur." Arthur said, though he purred contentedly. "And not at all."

"I know that, but I like Artie!" Alfred insisted. He gave the dragon a final few scratches and then slipped under his wing, curling up to the warm scales there. His arms automatically sought out Arthur's foreleg again and he hugged it.

The dragon huffed a little, settling down and glancing at the new grip on his leg. "...I thought I told you about that..." he muttered to himself, although he didn't really mind it.

"Huh? Oh, sorry..." Alfred slowly let go, looking somewhat disappointed, and curled more in on himself. "M'just used to it, y'know..."

"...Yeah, I know." Arthur said, looking away after a pause.

"Can I though? Please?" Alfred asked, his voice soft. "I just...like the reassurance that something's there..." Truth be told, he hated sleeping alone. He'd always been with Matthew, and the nights on the quest before he found Arthur were especially painful for him and he slept very little. Even during the nights spent in Arthur's cave, when he was healing but not yet talking so much to the dragon, it had been tough for him to fall asleep.

"...Fine." Arthur murmured.

"Thank you." Alfred said gratefully, and immediately moved forward to hug Arthur's leg again and nuzzle to it a tiny bit. "G'night."

"Good night." Arthur replied, settling down himself and soon falling asleep.

Alfred's dreams once more brought back his feelings of guilt and misery. Throughout all of them he could hear the girl's screams and their look of fear and revulsion as they looked at Arthur. He whimpered a bit and curled more into him. "N-No, please..." he mumbled, brow furrowing.

Arthur stirred, opening an eye and frowning down at the man. "...Human?" he said quietly, nudging him a little. "What is it?"

"C-C'mon-" Alfred jerked awake and looked around. Then his gaze dropped and he cleared his throat. "N-Nothing, Artie, don't worry 'bout it, go back to sleep." he muttered, voice thick.

"You were whimpering..."

"Oh... Sorry."

"...Were you having a nightmare?"

"Kind of, but just...forget about it." Alfred said, turning away. "Not like you'd _really_ care anyway." he added on in a mutter.

"It's a little harsh to say that..." Arthur murmured in return, letting out a small huff as he rested his head on his paw.

"What? It's kinda true." Alfred shrugged.

"It's rude to assume things about others."

"I didn't assume, I observed." Alfred shot back. "You only really care when it's beneficial to you. If I were to die you'd lose your 'only human contact', as you put it. That would be inconvenient for you, so that's why you care. Otherwise you don't really give a shit." He shrugged again. "But that's all right, I guess. I don't really care either." That was a lie, but he didn't know what he could do to fix it.

Arthur's wide gaze shot back to Alfred for a moment, looking shocked and slightly hurt, before he straightened his expression and turned his head in the other direction. "...So you think I'm selfish to the point that I don't care about any other human beings."

"I dunno." Alfred was still facing away from him. "I'm just going off what I've seen."

"Hmph." Arthur closed his eyes, his mood definitely soured. "Well you shouldn't judge a book by its cover..."

"Like I said, I'm just observing." Alfred muttered. He suddenly rose and slipped out from Arthur's wing, going over to the side of the clearing. "G'night, again."

An eye opened and followed the human. Arthur considered getting up and following him, but his pride got the better of him and he stayed put.

Alfred curled up there, and though it was much colder and harder, he sucked it up. He took off his shirt and put it over himself as a sort of blanket and curled up even tighter, starting to shiver ever so slightly but ignoring it. He held onto the sleeve of his shirt. It wasn't very substantial, but it was better than nothing.

Arthur shifted slightly, trying to ignore the human and the guilt brought to him.

Alfred tossed and turned a bit on the ground, finding it hard to get into a good position- he swore that rock hadn't been there a moment ago! Finally, he let out a very quiet sigh and just decided to stay in the position he was currently in. He closed his eyes and tried to force himself to sleep.

_Fine_. the dragon thought, and with a huff stood up and moved to where Alfred was. He crashed down next to him, letting his wing fall on the man.

"A-Ah!" Alfred jumped when Arthur suddenly plopped down right next to him, and he glanced up at him with wide, surprised eyes. "What are you doing?"

"You said it was reassuring for something to be there, did you not?" the dragon replied, eyes narrow.

"W-Well yeah but I thought you didn't..." Alfred looked away from him. "You didn't have to do that..."

"Just shut up and go to sleep." Arthur muttered.

"All right, all right." Alfred hesitantly curled up to him, his arms going around Arthur's leg again, and he drifted off almost immediately.

The dragon watched as Alfred fell asleep, head turning to face forward after a while. His mind clouded with Alfred's words, he was left alone with his thoughts long into the night.


	5. Chapter 5

Hi there! Sorry for the long break but I've been busy in Poland~ But here you guys are!

* * *

Alfred woke first the next morning, and he quickly let go of Arthur's leg. He peeked out from under the wing and saw it was still early morning, so he ducked back inside and went back to sleep, happily lapping up the warmth surrounding him. Arthur woke more slowly and blearily, having finally fallen asleep very late in the night, and settled for resting his head on his paw, turning it toward where Alfred was as he waited for some sign for him to be awake. The human was moving around in his sleep, but they were his usual movements. At one point he rolled over and flung his hand out, which landed lightly on Arthur's nose. A small smile came to his face and his fingers twitched, tightening slightly on the scales.

Eyes becoming crossed to stare at the sudden presence of Alfred's hand, Arthur's gaze swiveled towards the man. "Uh... Are you awake...?" he asked quietly.

"Mmmh..." Alfred let out a particularly loud snore and moved closer to Arthur's muzzle.

"I'll take that as a no..." the dragon murmured, trying to think whether to shake the man off, wake him, or just leave him be.

Alfred let out a small sniff and his hand slipped a bit.

This affirmed the dragon's decision, and he gently shook his head to try and shake Alfred's hand off without waking him.

"Mm- Wha...?" Alfred blinked awake and snatched his hand back. "Heh, sorry..."

"Not at all... Good morning."

"Mornin'." Alfred yawned and then settled down, letting out a snore.

"...Don't tell me you're falling asleep again." Arthur said, rolling his eyes.

"S'too early." Alfred muttered.

"Well I don't know what time you usually get up, but it isn't that early." the dragon replied sternly.

"Yes it is!" Alfred insisted. "Now shush, m'sleeping!"

Arthur rolled his eyes again at the man. With nothing else to do for it, he rested his head down and settled to wait.

Alfred slept for about another half hour before sitting up. "Welp, I'm up. Happy now, Mr. Grumpypants?"

"Will you stop calling me that?" Arthur asked, reprimanding the man. "I still don't understand how you sleep so much."

"When your grumpypants attitude goes away, then maybe." Alfred replied, sticking his tongue out at the dragon. "And I sleep because I can! Finally I don't gotta get up at the crack of dawn and work, at least while I'm on this quest." He sighed contently. "_Sleep_, man. It's awesome."

Arthur's eyes narrowed at him. "That's not really a proper response. But if you insist."

"Yup!" Alfred grinned, and then rose and stretched. He slipped his shirt back on and then turned to Arthur. "So you wanna eat or head out again?"

"Well, are you hungry?"

"Kinda. But I can just stop by a tavern or something at the next town we come to. I've still got a little bit of money left."

"Are you sure that's okay?" Arthur queried. "Will you need that in the future? For an emergency?"

"It's fine." Alfred muttered, looking down and hitching his pack onto his shoulder.

"All right then, shall we?" Arthur crouched down, ready.

Alfred nodded and climbed onto his shoulders with slightly more grace this time. "Leggo, leggo!"

The dragon took off as soon as Alfred was ready. He flew in the same direction they had been going in the previous day and circled a bit until he had found another town. Once again, he landed about a mile off from it.

Alfred hopped off and grinned at him. "Okay, I'm gonna go eat and then chat up some girls for you, yeah?"

"Sounds wonderful." Arthur replied sarcastically, a slight grin upon his mouth, and on second thought, "Good luck."

"Thanks!" Alfred patted his shoulder and then set off.

He reached the town fairy quickly again. It was bigger than the last one, though he didn't look around and instead headed straight for the local tavern, the one that looked the cheapest. He figured he had just enough money for one meal, and he intended to binge it all now. He found the prices in the place were even cheaper than he expected, so he'd have some left over! Not that he'd be able to get anything for it, except maybe like one apple at the market, but it was better than nothing.

"Hey there!" he said brightly at the counter. The tavern wasn't too crowded, so he didn't have to wait long to get the barkeep's attention. "Could I get a pint of beer and the special?"

"Sure." the man told him, taking the money Alfred slid over and handing him back the change. "Why don't ya take a seat there, and it'll be out in a bit, yeah?"

"Thanks." Alfred plopped down in the barstool nearest him and took a swig of the beer the moment he received it.

The barkeep was busy for a moment, but soon returned his attention back to Alfred. "So what's your name, traveler?" he asked, his voice friendly.

"I'm Alfred, and you?"

The atmosphere changed slightly, almost imperceptibly. "...Gregory. Where are you coming from, Alfred?"

"Uhhh, south-ish, I think?"

Instantly, the barkeep's friendliness disappeared, and the people closest to them turned their heads towards him, glaring. Whispers raced through the crowd, and he managed to hear bits and pieces of them. "It's him..." "...they warned us..." "Taking girls, the filth..." "...bastard, thinks he's getting my daughter..."

Alfred gulped and looked around. "H-Hey, what's up with everyone all of a sudden?"

"Get him!" someone shouted suddenly.

Alfred let out a yelp and ran, the beer tankard tipping over and splashing over the counter. He managed to get out of the tavern and then tore off down the road, his speed increasing when a bolt from a crossbow embedded itself in the wood of a post he was passing by.

_What? How do they know? News couldn't have traveled that fast, could it have?_ he thought as he raced along. _And I'm not filth or a bastard, I'm just helping Arthur!_

He reached the woods in minutes and dodged through the trees, but the men only pursued him more. His blood chilled when he heard the howls of hunting dogs. He wasn't some criminal to be hunted down! But they were catching up, having more energy from having constant meal sources, unlike Alfred. Soon they were right on his tail, and Alfred almost fell when he felt another bolt land in his shoulder. But his fear drove him on, and soon the clearing with Arthur came into view.

"A-Arthur!" he yelled, bursting through the trees. "Arthur, help-" He made it halfway across to the dragon before another bolt took him in the other shoulder, and this time he went down. He let out an instinctive cry as he landed on the ground, and glanced behind him to see two of the dogs upon him.

Arthur jumped and turned as Alfred emerged, eyes widening at the sight. "What the _hell_ did you do...?" The dragon was soon interrupted as he saw thee bolt flying into Alfred, and he looked desperately past him at the woods to see the two hounds.

"Alfred!" He was almost immediately between the man and the dogs, batting one away instinctively and roaring at the other, flicking it off his wrist when it bit him. But where had that bolt come from? Arthur hadn't time to think; he picked Alfred up and held the man in his front paw as he took off.

Alfred groaned when he felt the bolts being pushed deeper into his body by Arthur's paw, and then he blacked out and knew no more.

All Arthur knew before fleeing the scene was that he narrowly avoided another attack, feeling the bolt skim against his scales as he flew away. After about fifteen minutes, he located the place they had spent the previous night and landed, carefully laying Alfred down. He looked at the human, nudging him a little with his paw. "...Alfred?" Getting some water from the river, the dragon deposited it over Alfred in the hopes he would come to.

"H-Huh?!" Alfred shot up, but then instantly was brought back down to his knees because of the pain. "Ow fuck!" he moaned, shaking a little as he felt the full force of pain from the bolts return, and he thought he was going to black out again.

Arthur rushed forward, ready to hold Alfred up if he needed to. "Alfred?" he questioned, worry in his eyes.

"I-I'm all right..." He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to twist around a bit to get the bolts out of himself, but he couldn't reach them.

"Stay still, I'll do it." Arthur said hurriedly. "...Sorry about this." And with that, he gripped the first bolt with his teeth and quickly tugged it out, careful not to be too rough.

Alfred let out another muffled cry, though he tried to hold it in, and he flinched horribly. His breath came in sharp pants, and he felt weak from the pain.

Arthur himself flinched a little at the cry before moving to the other shoulder. "I'm going to pull this one out now, stay with me." And with another swift tug it was out.

A tiny whimper escaped him, though he could better control it now. His shirt was once again stained red as blood poured from the injuries. "T-Thanks... M'sorry..." Alfred muttered, not able to move from his position without experiencing a massive increase of pain.

"Shut up unless I tell you to talk. This might hurt." Arthur quickly but cautiously got Alfred's shirt off and bunched it up against one of the injuries, stemming the amount of blood streaming out of the human's body at least slightly. "Do you still have bandages? Nod if you do. And I might need your trousers too."

Alfred slowly nodded, for once doing what Arthur asked him to.

"Okay, good..." Giving up on using Alfred's trousers after a moment of trying to get them off, the dragon instead pressed the pad of his paw to the other injury, hoping it wasn't too painful as he snuffled around Alfred's pack for the bandages. He pulled them out with his teeth and let go of where he was holding Alfred, instead holding his arms up and starting to wrap the bandage around his shoulders. "Just tell me to stop any time..."

Alfred whimpered a bit but gritted his teeth and put up with it. "Wh- Why- You called- Alfred?"

Alfred finished setting the bandage and hoped it would be good enough for now. "I thought I told you not to talk... Although... It just slipped out, all right?"

Alfred chuckled sadly, and then winced. Of course it had just slipped out. "Yeah... 'lright..." He then went silent, closing his eyes and just laying there.

Arthur watched the human, struggling to make a decision. He frowned after a moment, letting out a sigh as it was reached. "...I'm taking you home."

"Wh-What?!" Alfred's eyes shot open, and he struggled into a sitting position. "N-No, I gotta- gotta help you!"

"Alfred, you're already hurt this badly and we're two days in. Whatever just happened... The news will spread fast and you'll be wanted. And your brother's a healer, right? It'd be better off for you to go back."

"No, I can do it." Alfred said stubbornly. "I'll be- be fine."

"Alfred, this quest is over! We won't be able to go anywhere without being recognized. I'll live my life and you live yours, all right?" Arthur could not deal with Alfred getting this badly hurt because of him, and it'd only get worse.

"NO!" Alfred rose and strode over to Arthur, taking the dragon's chin in his hands so he was somewhat cupping his face. "You- I know you're stupid and grumpy and- and don't really care about me but I ain't letting you live the rest of your life under a stupid curse!" His legs started shaking, close to giving out, so he sat down but took Arthur's head down lower with him. "I'm gonna help you break this thing, Artie..."

Arthur stared, wide eyes full of a mixed bag of emotions, before his gaze dropped to the ground. He would clearly not win this. "...Then shut up and get some rest."

"...Right." Alfred let go of his face and carefully lay down on the ground on his stomach.

Arthur stood next to him, ready to keep watch. "...Do you need food or water or anything?"

"Aww man!" Alfred suddenly groaned as he remembered. "I didn't even get my food before they started chasing me. What a waste..." he muttered. "But nah, I'll be fine. It still hurts like hell though..."

"Of course, it will do so..." Arthur looked down at the man, a shot of guilt going through him at his pain. "I-Is there...anything else I can do?"

Alfred turned his head around so he could glance at Arthur. "You care?"

"...And apparently you do too." After that display, and the human's decision- no, stubbornness to stay- maybe he did.

"'Course _I_ care, you're stuck under a shitty curse! I wanna help you get rid of it!" Alfred winced slightly- he was talking too much, wasn't he? "Warmth or somethin' would be nice..."

The dragon stared at Alfred as he spoke, wondering how he could be so stubborn in his benevolence. "All right." he said, setting together some sticks where the embers of the previous fire were before carefully settling his wing over Alfred, below the bandage so as to not harm him further. "Is this all right...?"

"Yeah! S'perf..." Alfred grinned up at him and then reached up to pat Arthur's wing, feeling the strange but really cool texture of it. "Thanks, Artie... How long- we gonna be here?"

"However long it takes for you to get your strength back." Arthur replied.

"We'll go in a bit then, kay?" Alfred snuggled down under the wing, using it as a blanket, and let out a soft sigh of contentment.

"All right. Get some sleep for now."

Alfred sleepily nodded and was out seconds later, holding on tightly to Arthur's wing.

Arthur let a soft smile cross his face for a moment before he turned his head to the woods, looking to the source of each noise he heard as he kept watch while Alfred slept. After about half an hour he changed into a more relaxed position- he could still keep watch, but he should probably conserve some energy too.

Alfred slept deeply and soundly, feeling utterly safe with Arthur watching over him. The dragon was the top predator in the area, so he had nothing to fear. His grip on the wing increased a little during the latter hours of his sleep, and eventually hunger wakened him. "Fooooood..." he muttered as he woke. "Mattie, s'there anythin'?" he asked sleepily, momentarily forgetting where he was.

Arthur looked down as soon as he heard the human, clearing his throat -though it came out as a slight growl- as he awkwardly tried to remind Alfred of his whereabouts. "You're not at home, Alfred..."

"O-Oh..." Alfred jumped a bit and looked away, embarrassed. "Sorry..."

The dragon sighed slightly. "I can get you some food though."

"Nah, s'all right. I can manage for a bit longer." Alfred slowly stood up, leaning against Arthur's shoulder slightly for support, though he was definitely much stronger now.

"Well, all right, if you're sure." Arthur eyed the man a bit. "Perhaps we should change your bandages..."

"You think?" Alfred glanced over his shoulder. "Are they bloody?"

"A little." Arthur replied. "But it's probably a good idea to clean the wounds- they should have dried by now."

"Are you gonna lick 'em again?"

Arthur hesitated slightly. "Well, we're by a river... But if you prefer, I suppose..."

"Yeah! Isn't dog spit like good for injuries or something? Is your spit like that too?"

"I... Well, I've never really found out. I've not tried it properly on a human before."

"Oh. Well could you anyway? It's warm and so it's better than cold river water. Plus, who knows what happened upstream?"

"All right, well turn around so I can take this bandage off."

Alfred moved, somewhat unsteadily, away from him and turned so his back was to the dragon. "Hey Artie?"

"Yes?" the dragon responded, loosening the end of the bandage and pausing to see what Alfred wanted to say.

"...Have..." Alfred bit his lip, trying to think of a good way to phrase it. "How much...affection, exactly, did you get when you were a kid?" he finally asked, taking hold of the bandage and unraveling it since Arthur seemed to have stopped.

Arthur froze at the question. "...What do you mean?"

"What I said. How much affection did ya get?" Alfred twisted around so he could see his face.

"W-Well..." Arthur blinked when Alfred turned before glancing away with a frown. "I don't know why you'd ask something like that." he tried to brush off smoothly.

"It's important. C'mon, how much?" Alfred insisted.

"...Fine. My parents were never home due to work, my brothers teased me for being a runt, and the rest of the town hated me because they thought I was too higher class for them. I always preferred my own company anyway, so I don't really care how much 'affection' I got."

"Oh..." Alfred saddened for a moment, and then went over to hug Arthur's neck tightly.

"...What? I already said I didn't care..." he said, though his face said otherwise and he rested his chin upon the other's head.

"I don't care if you don't care, every little kid deserves some affection." Alfred muttered into his scales. "You might not be a little kid anymore, but I'll be damned if I don't do that. 'Sides, a lil love might cure your grumpypants attitude, right? That way you might have a better shot with the ladies!"

Arthur scowled, trying to withhold his emotions, and took a small, shaky breath. "...I'd really rather you didn't call me that." he murmured, unsure what else to say.

"Call you what? Grumpypants? Well, you are one." Alfred squeezed him more tightly. "But we'll see what we can do about that, right?"

Closing his eyes, the dragon huffed. "Right... Now, let me clean you."

"Heh, fine." Alfred let go and gave him a brief scratch to the chin before stepping away and presenting his back to him again. "Y'know..."

Arthur began licking around the wounds where the blood had dried, looking up at Alfred as he waited for him to continue.

Alfred let out a light groan as Arthur began, closing his eyes. "Our relationship has been kinda a mess from the start, eh?" he asked with a little laugh. "But whatcha say we start over a bit?"

"Start over...?" Arthur questioned between licks.

"Yeah! Well, kinda. Like, we put what's already happened behind us, like us trying to kill each other and stuff, and just start off again with a clean slate!"

"I suppose... I never really held that against you though."

"Well I have, and I'm sorry." Alfred turned to look at him, sincere sorrow in his eyes.

"...It's fine." Arthur said, lowering his head a little.

Alfred hugged his snout, practically collapsed on top of his nose and staring into Arthur's eyes. "So start over kinda?"

"If you wish."

"Well you gotta wanna do that too..." Alfred protested. "We don't have to if you don't... It was just a suggestion."

"No, I do want to." the dragon reassured. "It's just, as I said, I don't really hold it against you..."

"Why not?" Alfred tilted his head to the side, curious.

"...Well, you saw me as a dragon at the time." Arthur shrugged. "It's...a somewhat normal thing to kill a dragon, and you didn't realize who I was."

"Oh... Yeah, I guess." Alfred got off his nose and presented his back to Arthur again.

Arthur set about cleaning Alfred's back again, washing the wounds of blood, and then took a step back once he had finished, frowning with distaste at the afflicted areas.

Alfred turned his head when the licking stopped, and he frowned at Arthur's frown. "What's wrong? Did it somehow get worse?"

"No, I just..." Arthur paused a moment to phrase his words. "I'm sorry. Though it's really your fault for being so damn insistent on helping me..."

"Don't be sorry, Artie." Alfred grinned at him. "It's all right. I'll be fine real soon, you'll see."

"Well, you'd better be." Arthur let out a light sigh. "Do you want your bandages back on?"

"Uhh, do we have enough?"

"We could try washing an old one. Or I can go get some more..."

"Nah, then forget about it." Alfred pulled on his torn shirt- he'd really have to go about getting a new one soon- and looked at Arthur again. "Should we move? I think we should go straight to the other side of the kingdom- there's no way they heard anything there."

"All right, if you're sure... But I don't want your injuries worsening," Arthur responded, crouching to allow Alfred to climb on.

"Eh." Alfred waved him off and climbed on, by now easily settling down into the slight groove between Arthur's neck and shoulder. He patted the dragon's scales. "Let's go!"

* * *

**A/N**: Hopefully I'll be able to update a bit more frequently...


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: Next chapter!

* * *

It took them about three weeks to get across the kingdom, though their pace wasn't especially hurried. During that time, Alfred and Arthur talked more and became more in sync with each other. Alfred also made good on his promise and his affection towards the dragon increased tenfold. He would grin at and hug the dragon whenever he could get away with it, and while Arthur still grumbled at it, he suspected the other secretly liked it. They flew almost nonstop during the days, and started out late due to Alfred's sleeping habits.

Alfred's injuries also almost completely healed. The wounds from Arthur's claws were little more than pink scars stretching from his back around his side and ribs to part of his stomach. The crossbow bolt injuries were also in the latter part of scabbing, and though internally it still hurt while the muscle repaired itself, Alfred didn't really mind it any more. They passed mostly forest, and skirted the capital as well as any other major city with a wide arc.

"Whew." Alfred slid off Arthur and collapsed onto the ground by the dragon's paws, grinning up at him. "I don't think I've ever traveled this much."

During those two weeks, Arthur's attitude softened ever so slightly, and the bitterness he had cultivated for so many years began to shake loose. In fact, as the dragon looked down at Alfred, he even wore a small smirk. "I've been carrying you most of the way."

"Yeah, but sitting in one position for so long gives you cramps!" Alfred retorted, giving an overexaggerated moan along the way. "Oh, the pain!"

"And you think carrying an oaf like you doesn't?" Arthur raised his brow, teasing the man.

Alfred pouted. "M'not an oaf! All that's pure muscle!"

"Oh, sure."

"Yeah it is. And you should know, you've seen it all!" Alfred's grin grew, and he stuck his tongue out.

Arthur's smirk faltered as he stared at the man, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times before turning his head sharply away, face etched with embarrassment. "...Shut up."

Alfred just burst out laughing, holding his sides as he shook and rolled around on the floor.

"What's so funny?" Arthur shot, glaring at him.

"Y-You!" Alfred managed to get out, wiping tears from his eyes and gasping for breath as he laughed.

The dragon's eyes further narrowed. "What about me is funny?"

"Your reactions!" Slowly, Alfred's laughter subsided and he struck a pose on the floor, flexing a bit. "But ya gotta admit, it's _all_ muscle."

Arthur huffed and turned his head. "Talk about blowing your own trumpet..."

"Shhh, you just can't appreciate it yet." Alfred waved dismissively at him. "You wanna sleep, or hunt first?"

"Yet? That's a little assuming..." Arthur retorted. "Well, are you hungry?"

Alfred just winked at him, and then pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Kinda hungry, yeah."

"All right, I'll get some food then."

"All right!" Alfred got up and hugged his neck.

"Alfred, I need to leave." Arthur said, though he nudged the man back a little.

Alfred squeezed him tighter for a moment, and then let go and stepped back. "I know." he told him with a grin. "Just wanted to hug you!"

"All right, all right..." Arthur rolled his eyes a little and then was off, returning a quarter of an hour later with a few rabbits.

"Oooh, rabbits again!" Alfred quickly skinned them, adding their fur to the collection he was building up. "I might be able to trade it for some stuff soon!" he said excitedly to Arthur and tossed him some of the meat.

Arthur quickly wolfed it down, pausing only to set a fire for Alfred's portion, and looked at the furs. "Hmm, you could, at the right market."

"Awesome!" Alfred skewered his meat and quickly roasted it before wolfing it down. When he was finished with it all- which took far less time than expected- he plopped down by Arthur's leg and leaned against it, sighing contently.

"...So, you want to sleep now?" the dragon asked, looking down at Alfred.

"Nah. Got any interesting stories?"

"Hmm... Interesting stories about what? My whole life is practically one big story..."

"Wanna share?" Alfred's eyes turned slightly pleading while simultaneously being excited.

"You want my life story?" Arthur raised a brow. "I'm not even sure how to deliver that. Including all the boring stuff?" Sighing, he thought where to begin. "Well, you already know my parents were never home, and you...vaguely know how I became like this, though I suppose I could tell you more. And you sort of know how I spent my time before. Is there anything you particularly want to know?"

"...That was all 'vaguely' and 'sort of' and 'kind of'. Tell me concrete stuff, man! But...how about you start with how you were cursed, exactly?"

"Okay, sorry," Arthur took a small breath and then recounted the tale. "Well...as you know, I...slept around a fair bit. And Francis wasn't really happy with that, he thought it was 'terrible to waste a person's love' or something like that, and that sleeping with so many people without cherishing the love of it was wrong. But he dealt with it, it was just my personality. Anyway... One night, I was, well, more than a little drunk. And... Me and Francis had this friend that we'd both known since we were very young. She was pretty special to us; especially to him, I feel. And she...confessed her love to me then." The dragon hung his head. "...You can guess what happened next. I woke up the next morning and took off, leaving her there. And I pretended I didn't remember. We stopped speaking properly, and... I broke our closest friend's heart. That's what made Francis so angry that... Well. Yes, here I am, anyway."

Alfred peered up at him. "That's kind of...loose... Do you think you'd change, if you were a human again?"

"Tch, you don't think I know that?!" Arthur took a deep sigh. "That's why Francis made the curse this way. I can't just break it by killing someone or waiting. I have to fall in love, properly experience what real love is like. Rather than that 'superficial' stuff."

"Hm." Alfred cocked his head. "Good luck." He smirked a bit.

"What?" Arthur narrowed his eyes at the man.

"No, no, nothin'." Alfred grinned innocently.

"Well you're clearly thinking something..."

"I'm kinda wondering how long exactly it'll take you? Since you're...you?"

"...What do you mean by that?"

"You're still a grumpypants!"

"Well I can hardly _know_ how long it'll take me. It's only ever been sex with me, I barely know how to do this!" Arthur replied with a huff.

Alfred snickered. "It's gonna be sooo fun watching this."

The dragon glared down at him. "I'm not here for your amusement, you know."

"I know. But it's still gonna be fun."

"It will not..."

"Aww, Artie, you've got bout as much experience with love as a newborn, of course it's gonna be hilarious!"

Arthur simply narrowed his eyes, closed his mouth, and turned his head away as the tips of his scales turned a little red.

"See, now you're even blushing!" Alfred chuckled some more, but then went over to him and stroked his nose. "It's all right though, I'll help you!"

"I've told you before, it's not blushing..." the dragon grumbled, closing his eyes at the hand on his nose. "Good luck with that..."

"I managed to get you to like me- or, at least tolerate me." Alfred pointed out, moving his hands so he was scratching the dragon behind the ear and spines. "This'll be a piece of cake."

Arthur leaned into the touch a little, beginning to emit a low purr. "Hmm, I suppose that's true. But the problem is we need to find a woman who likes me."

"We'll manage somehow. Starting tomorrow." Alfred said, scratching away. "Ooh! And do you think sometime you could help me practice fighting and stuff?"

Opening his eyes at this, Arthur peered at the man. "...I don't see why not."

"Really?" Alfred looked deep into Arthur's green eye and grinned warmly. "Thanks! Don't wanna get too rusty, in case I needa protect you!"

"You, need to protect me?" The dragon raised a brow. "I think it'd more likely be the other way."

"I'm like the only human on your side, Artie. I needa protect you from them!"

"Hmph. Who said I needed protecting?" came an indignant reply.

"I do!"

"Well I don't." Arthur mumbled in return. "...Since I told you about me, how about you share something?"

"A-About me?" Alfred squeaked, and then got settled down in between Arthur's forepaws. "What do you wanna know?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure where to begin... Tell me more about your brother."

"Mattie? Well, he looks a lot like me, except his hair is longer and he's got this weird piece that loops down over his face, and his eyes are more purple. He was always more quiet, and calmer. Our parents died when we were about fourteen? After that Mattie became the healer's apprentice so he could learn and make some more money from that- he loved helping people, used to patch me up too. He's a quick learner, so it only took him like two and a half years. People didn't really trust him at first cuz he was pretty young, but now they do! We're both nineteen now... Whoa..." Alfred's voice got slightly quieter. "It's only been five years? Seems like longer..." He shook himself and his sadder aura vanished. "Yeah, so he was doing that while I kept on tending the fields and stuff and selling like half of what I grew and it wasn't much but me an' Mattie survived and there you have it!"

"...You're only nineteen?" Arthur's voice was soft, and he gently gave a reassuring nudge to the other. "That must be hard work." Truth be told, Arthur felt a little humiliated that he was relying so heavily on somebody younger than him, but...he had to admit, Alfred had a stronger spirit.

He didn't have to admit it out loud, though.

"Yup!" Alfred's grin softened at the nudge, and he pressed his palm to Arthur's nose, simply holding it there. "Mattie's like three days older than me. It was a weird birth, so they say. It was pretty hard, but it was either that or starve." he said with a slight shrug.

"...Yeah." Arthur let out a small, sympathetic sigh. "It's definitely the better of the two."

Alfred wrapped his arms around Arthur's nose and nuzzled to it. "Mattie makes more though, which makes me feel kinda guilty, but I guess it's good cuz it makes me try harder..."

"That's only because his job pays more... You try just as hard as him." Arthur gave another comforting nudge to the man, thinking to himself of what he could do, and his large stash of treasure.

"Yeah. It's all right though, we don't really need too much." Alfred giggled softly when the nudge tickled against his side. "Is there anything else you wanna know?"

The dragon smiled a little at this, nudging the area again. "I feel a little unfair asking you so much, but... What was it like where you lived? And...your friends, I suppose."

Alfred giggled again and lightly pushed his nose away. "Don't feel like that, nothin' wrong with asking about your traveling companion! We lived in a pretty small village, so it was quiet, but it's near a larger city- huh, we're actually not too far away, maybe like three days by horse, four? But anyway, since we were close to the bigger city, Mattie didn't run out of patients and stuff. And I feel like of bad sayin' this and wishing people ill, but we kind of need 'em to do that so we can survive. Uhh...didn't really have that many friends growing up." He started softly stroking Arthur's nose. "I was a bit too enthusiastic, for them, I guess. Plus, there weren't that many kids around in the first place. Mostly it was just me and Mattie..."

"Really?! But you're so..." Arthur trailed off, slightly unsure of what to say but more embarrassed to say it.

"So what?" Alfred looked up at him, tilting his head to the side.

"Well... charismatic, I suppose? You strike me as the popular kind..."

"Well my mom always said I had ta be nice and friendly to make friends." Alfred shrugged a bit. "Guess I was just always...a little too friendly for others when I was a kid. Now I've kind of toned it down, but well, most of my time was spent farming and stuff, so there wasn't really much time for other people. Horses make surprisingly good conversational partners, you know." he said seriously.

Arthur smiled a little at this. "So do toy animals..."

"Toy animals?" Alfred raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me..."

"What?" Suddenly realizing what he's said, Arthur started a little. "N-No, that wasn't me!"

Alfred laughed and nuzzled to Arthur's nose again. "Aww, that's adorable, Artie! C'mon, tell me more! What toy animals?"

Arthur's eyes swiveled away, and his shoulders hunched in embarrassment. "...I had a...unicorn, a bean bag, and...a small rabbit called Mint Bunny..."

"Aww." Alfred cooed, a stupidly wide grin on his face. "That's so cute!"

Now Arthur started to turn red. This was not something a dragon should do; much less a grown man. Even for a young boy, actually _talking_ to one's stuffed toys was ridiculous. "No it isn't..."

"Yeah it is!" Alfred rubbed his cheek eagerly against the scales of Arthur's cheek. "Psst, I'll tell you a secret- Mattie used to have a stuffed white bear toy that he'd talk to. He still has it and I've caught him sleeping with it sometimes."

"S-Still..."

"Well _I_ think it's cute!" Alfred insisted.

"...I-I shouldn't be cute." Arthur pleaded, desperately fazed by this.

"Why not, cuz you're a big, scary, grumpy dragon? Well lemme tell you, that image is finally cracking." Alfred wriggled down further in between his paws and on impulse, turned his head to brush his lips against Arthur's cheek in a sort of a kiss.

The dragon scowled, scales becoming even darker. "Tch... Why are we even talking about this...?" he muttered.

"Whatcha wanna talk about then?"

"I don't know. Is there anything you want to know?"

"Umm..." Alfred thought for a moment. "What'll you do when you turn back?"

It took Arthur a minute or two to come up with an answer. "Go right up to Francis and give him the thrashing he dam well deserves."

"Wow, you two must really dislike one another. But...can we like...keep in contact, even if you don't necessarily wanna be friends or somethin'?" Alfred asked, slightly nervously.

"Of course." Arthur said, somewhat surprised at the other's nervousness. "And yes, he is a bit of a twat."

"Really? That's good." Alfred leaned back against the scales of Arthur's chest. "Sounds like one."

"Why do you think I'd want to lose contact with you?"

Alfred shrugged a bit, looking away from him.

The dragon moved his head to see Alfred better, frowning. "What?"

"Nothin'." Alfred forced a smile at him.

"Don't give me that, what is it?" Arthur asked, genuinely concerned.

Keeping the smile firmly fixed in place, Alfred shrugged again. "You'll probs have a whole bunch of stuff to catch up on. Wouldn't hold it against you if you forgot me or somethin'."

Arthur's frown deepened, and he lowered his head to allow his eyes to bore into Alfred's blue ones. "And you tell me exactly how I could forget you? Because I can't think of a way."

Yet another shrug. "Well I'm not exactly special, am I? Just a poor wannabe knight." The smile widened a bit, and Alfred reached out to pat Arthur's nose. "But like I said, it's okay!"

"And you think I'm somehow so special?" Arthur sternly batted Alfred with a paw. "I won't accept that as a reason. And I'm hardly going to forget about the first human I've talked to in 20 years, the person who helped me break this curse, or...my only friend, if I can say that..."

The breath was slightly knocked out of him at the bat, and Alfred's hands moved to rest atop the paw. His eyes shone. "I'm...your friend?"

Arthur looked at the human a moment before turning his head away, brow furrowing again. "That's what I said."

Alfred twisted around and wrapped his arms as best he could around Arthur. "Thanks..."

Jumping a little at the sudden hug, the dragon glanced back down at Alfred. "...It's nothing."

"Yeah it is! You're like my first _real_ real friend!"

Arthur blinked down at the man, before hanging his head a little. "I...you too..."

Alfred's eyes widened and he hugged Arthur harder. "So that makes us first-friend friends, right? Or something like that..." He stifled a yawn and grinned up at him.

"Something like that." Arthur replied, smiling slightly.

"I'm glad you almost killed me." Alfred muttered, letting go and settling down comfortably in Arthur's paws. He yawned again, and blinked a few times.

"That seems an odd thing to say, but I suppose I agree." Arthur chuckled. "...Did you want to sleep?"

"No, cuz like, if you hadn't, then we'd just keep tryin'a kill each other, and you'd probably have killed me in the end. But yeah, sleep sounds nice..."

"I know, I know. All right, get up and get under my wing, hm?"

"Aww, but I like it here!" Alfred gave him the puppy eyes. "Can I stay here?"

Arthur rolled his own eyes, but rested his head next to Alfred. "Fine, but don't start complaining about the cold."

"You're warm, so I'll be fine!"

"Hm, well if you're sure." Arthur said, closing his eyes.

"Yeah!" Alfred nuzzled to him one last time before falling asleep, soft snores coming from his mouth.

Arthur let out a small chuckle of laughter at the snores, before falling into a gentle sleep himself. Alfred curled a little more into him. Sometime in the night, Arthur's dreams turned dark and clouded. Suddenly he felt a weight on one side. Was he lying down? A foot on top of him... Oh. This again.

"What a wuss..."

"Pampered little rich boy, eh?"

Well this was the usual. He curled in on himself tighter.

"...Let's leave him a reminder of what he is, hm? So he'll never forget..."

Wait, that voice... Was it...? A sudden sharp pain shot through his back, and all thoughts of who it was flew out of his mind. He jolted himself awake with a scream, shaking, panting.

Woken by the scream and the jolt, Alfred instinctively reached for his sword. "A-Artie?!" Alfred turned to him and immediately rushed closer to his face, hugging his nose tightly and stroking his face. "Hey, it's all right, it's okay, I'm here, Artie..." he whispered to him.

Arthur's shaking didn't cease, and his eyes were wide in his fear, filling rapidly with tears and staring at nothing in particular as he struggled to regulate his breathing.

"Arthur!" Alfred snapped to get the dragon's attention on him. "It's all right, you hear?" he continued in a softer voice, reaching out to wipe away his tears before they could spill over. "It's okay now, you're safe, you're with me, I'm not gonna let anything happen to you..."

The dragon jumped and his gaze shot to Alfred, shaking and panting gradually slowing and becoming more infrequent. His eyes still wide, fresh tears spilled down his face as he looked into the human's eyes.

"There...there..." Alfred grinned softly and wiped away more of his tears, whispering words of comfort to him the whole time.

Arthur slowly calmed down, and eventually his gaze dropped as his looked to the side in shame.

"H-Hey, what's wrong?" Alfred frowned and lifted Arthur's chin with his hands. "Look at me, Artie, what's the matter?"

Gasping slightly, Arthur met Alfred's eyes for only a moment before his eyes glanced away again. "...It's nothing, sorry for troubling you so early."

"Oi!" Alfred tapped his nose lightly. "Don't apologize, you weren't troubling me at all." He continued stroking the dragon's face. "...Was it a bad dream?"

Arthur nervously gave Alfred a quick glance before nodding softly.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Alfred nuzzled to him, wiping away the last of his tears. "I'm here for you, Artie."

Looking at the other, Arthur gave a sigh. "All right. Thank you. It was... Ah... I said yesterday that a lot of people disliked me for being the son of a merchant... Well I think 'dislike' is a bit of an understatement really." The dragon cleared his throat awkwardly. "I got hit about a bit because of it. ...By the other kids in my town, I mean. I just dreamed of that a bit, that's all."

Alfred's eyes hardened. "What assholes. I hate people like that. But..." He hugged Arthur tightly again. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be silly, you've nothing to be sorry for..." Arthur said, closing his eyes.

"Still am. But...try not to think about it? Is there anything I could do to make you feel better?"

"I... I dunno, just..." Arthur trailed off awkwardly.

"Just what?" Alfred peered at him intensely. "I'll do anything, just say it." he said, rubbing small circles into his scales.

Arthur thought hard about what he wanted before uttering just two words. "...Stay here."

"Here? As in here in this position, or here with you in general?"

"The second one, you fool."

"Oh. Well you're the fool if you thought I was gonna leave anytime soon, Artie." Alfred said confidently, and started scratching him under the chin in hopes it would make him feel a bit better.

"I know, I know..." Arthur closed his eyes at the scratching and let out a short hum at it.

"Good. So...you wanna try sleeping again, or what?"

"Mm, I suppose I'm a little tired. And you're probably still tired." The dragon sighed. "I don't know how easily I'll fall back asleep though."

"Nah, I'm all right. But try and fall asleep." Alfred cleared his throat and started softly singing an old lullaby. His voice was kind of off-pitch, but it had gotten Matthew to sleep so he hoped it would work on Arthur too.

Arthur smiled softly at this and laid his head back down, closing his eyes and listening intently as he let the lullaby lure him back into sleep.

Alfred rested his hand gently on Arthur's nose and continued singing until he was sure the dragon was back asleep. "Sweet dreams, Artie..." he whispered, and then closed his eyes and drifted off as well.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: Sorry for the long break, but here we are!

* * *

Arthur woke for the second time a fair bit later than usual and he looked down at the man, watching him silently. He was still sleeping soundly, curled around one of Arthur's paws. After a few minutes, Arthur gently shook his paw and called the human's name softly.

"Mm?" Alfred slowly blinked awake, and he looked up blearily at Arthur. "Ohey there..." He grinned lazily. "Ya sleep well?"

"Yes, I slept all right." the dragon replied. "...I'd like to apologize for last night though."

Alfred frowned. "Apologize? You've got nothing to apologize for."

"Well... I woke you up like that."

"So? It'd be worse if you didn't wake me and then I found out you were suffering on your own like that. I'd be a shitty friend if I didn't help you." Alfred told him, and reached up to stroke his cheek.

"Thank you..."

"No problem Artie, really. You'd do the same for me! ...I think." Alfred shrugged and hugged him.

"Of course I would." the dragon replied, nudging Alfred with his nose, the closest to a hug he could manage.

"Mmm..." Alfred happily nuzzled to him.

"Hm... Are you hungry at all?" Arthur asked quietly.

"Lil bit. I wanna go to the market though, maybe try and get some vegetables or bread."

"All right. Shall we go, then?"

"We? You're not going anywhere." Alfred disentangled himself from the mass of dragon. "There's a town not too far away. I'll go, and maybe make another stew for us when I get back?"

Arthur huffed, dissatisfied, but settled down where he was. "All right. Come straight back if anything happens."

"Yes, _mother_, I'm off now." Alfred blew him a sweetly sarcastic kiss and then walked off down the road, his bag of furs over his shoulder.

Knowing the area fairly well, it took Alfred less than an hour to find the village. The market there was pretty large-spread on terms of products and people visiting daily, so it wasn't too difficult for Alfred to cajole someone into buying them. Of course, he got much less of a price than he could have or probably should have, but it was better than nothing. He bought some vegetables and even had enough for some spices, so he got those as well before returning. On his way back though, he almost ran into a girl.

"Sh- Sorry!" He apologized profusely, but she just brushed it off.

"No, no, it's all right!" The girl smiled hesitantly at him, brushing back black locks from her face. "Are you all right?"

"Yep! What about you? Oh, I'm Alfred."

"Victoria. I'm fine as well."

Alfred peered more closely at her, and came to a decision. "Hey, you look like a sweet girl. Wanna help me?"

Victoria looked startled. "H-Help you?" She backed away a little bit.

"No, no, nothing like that. My friend Arthur's in a bit of a fix, and he needs a lovely lady like yourself to help him out of it." Alfred explained.

Eventually, Victoria agreed to go with him, and they traveled back to Arthur together. When she saw the dragon, she let out a gasp and froze in place, starting to tremble, but didn't run.

Hearing footsteps, Arthur's head rose from his paws as he looked up at Alfred. He quickly saw the woman and his eyes shot to Alfred questioningly, not expecting to meet a woman so soon. "...Hello." he said soothingly to the woman, gaze returning to her.

"A-Alfred-" Victoria clung to Alfred's arms, eyes wide as she looked at him.

Alfred chuckled. "Victoria, this is Arthur. Arthur, Victoria." he turned to the girl. "Please don't run. He won't hurt you, promise."

Swallowing, Victoria looked back to the dragon, and managed a brief smile. "Hello..."

After stealing another sideways glance at Alfred, Arthur reassured the woman. "I'm perfectly harmless, don't worry. It's nice to meet you... Victoria?"

"Well, I'll leave you two to it!" Alfred said, grinning, and backed away a bit, simultaneously pushing Victoria forward.

"Y-Yes, I'm Victoria." She smiled slightly again and walked forward, slightly nervously.

"Well, as I said, it's lovely to meet you. I understand this may be...ah...unusual for you... I assume Alfred's explained the situation?"

"Kind of?" Reassured by the dragon's civil tone, Victoria chanced a step closer. "What...exactly must I do to help?"

"Well..." Arthur thought how to phrase this. "The only way for me to break this curse is for me to fall in love."

Victoria blinked a little in surprise. "...Fall in love?" She looked around nervously. "That's...that's not exactly something that could be forced, can it...?"

Arthur looked at Victoria, deadpan. "...Yes, I am aware of that. But if I at least meet people there's a chance, so..."

The girl flinched a bit at his expression. "It's good you're trying though, instead of giving up." she said, hoping it came out encouraging. She took another step closer.

"I suppose it is... Though I wouldn't be doing this without Alfred's help." the dragon responded, his expression growing softer as she moved closer.

"Yes, Alfred seems live a very nice person." Slightly emboldened by his actions, she moved even closer, and stopped a few feet away. "M-Might I be able to...touch you?"

Arthur, surprised at the question, slowly nodded his head. "Of course you may."

Victoria reached out and with an ever so slightly trembling hand, stroked his snout. "This is so...different..."

Arthur peered at the woman. "Well... I can imagine. But it's all right, hm?"

"It's not so bad." Victoria's eyes traced over the scales. "You're quite pretty."

Arthur's eyebrows rose and he gave a small smile- or rather, the closest he could get to one. "Thank you... You are too."

A small blush came over Victoria's cheeks, and she smiled, stepping away from him and bowing her head a bit from embarrassment. "T-Thank you..."

"You're welcome." Arthur replied, nodding his head a little in appreciation at the gesture.

"So ahh..." Victoria nervously brushed her hair back behind her ear. "What now?"

The dragon thought for a moment. "Well, I...suppose I'd need to talk to you a little more before...you know." he replied, giving Alfred a slightly nervous glance.

"N-No, I understand completely." Victoria immediately replied.

Alfred meanwhile was snoring away under a nearby tree.

"So... What's your family like then?"

"My family?" Victoria seemed surprised by the question. She looked around and spotted a log not too far away and gingerly made her way towards it. "Well," she said after sitting down primly. "My father runs a trading company- both on land and oversees. I'm here visiting my sister, who broke off from us because she didn't want to be associated with him or the family name- which I don't understand, how could anyone give up comfort and money like that?" She frowned slightly, and then cleared her throat. "Anyway, I'm the youngest, and I've also got an older brother. What about you?"

"I-I see..." Arthur replied gingerly, frowning slightly. "Well... Unfortunately my parents were poor merchants with four children to look after. Nothing special, I'm afraid."

"Well, you are special..."

Arthur raised a brow. "Special as in I'm under a curse?"

"W-Well yes, partly... I've never met anyone under a curse before."

"Well, surprisingly enough, nor have I."

"I-I see..." Victoria trailed off into silence for a few moments. "How...how long have you been like this?"

"20 years, give or take." Arthur said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry..."

The dragon gazed at Victoria for a moment, before rising from his seated position. "Yes, I am too..."

She smiled slightly at him. "You'll break it."

"I don't doubt that. But...look, you're a lovely girl, but I don't think you're the one who'll help me break this curse." Arthur said, as kindly as possible.

Victoria looked at him, and then shrugged softly. "If you believe so." She stood. "Good luck though." And with that, she walked off.

Surprised at her sudden exit, Arthur stood stunned for a moment before he could fully process what happened.

Alfred was still snoring under the tree.

Arthur watched the space where the woman had left, hoping she would be alright, before looking around for Alfred. When he found him, he kicked the tree next to him, shaking the canopy. "Alfred."

"WHA-" Alfred woke with a start, and then blinked up at him sheepishly. "Ohey. How's it goin'?"

"She's gone."

"Oh." Alfred frowned. "What happened? Did ya scare her off?"

"No, you fool. I just..." Arthur hesitated. "She wasn't what I was looking for."

"Aww. I'm sorry." Alfred stood up and gave him a hug. "We'll keep looking, kay?" He had been so sure she could be the one to do it... The thoughts kept him pouting.

Arthur ever so gently batted Alfred. "It's fine, we'll find someone. Do you want to head to the next city...?"

"Oof-" Alfred was knocked back a step, and he looked reproachfully towards him. "Sure! But first..."

"First?" Arthur raised a brow questioningly.

"Serious question." Alfred said, regarding him with a severe expression on his face. "Have you ever gotten a belly rub?"

Taken aback, Arthur blinked. "I...can't say I have, no..."

"Lay down." Alfred commanded.

"...What?"

"Lie down!"

"Alright, alright!" Arthur did as he was told, stretching out on the floor.

Grinning widely, Alfred approached him and started vigorously rubbing his belly. Arthur's eyes widened, surprised at the feeling, and he very quickly began to purr. His smile becoming broader, Alfred continued to rub the dragon's stomach. He marveled at the texture under his hands as he worked- the scales here were just as hard as the rest of the ones on Arthur's body if he pressed down harder, but if it was just a light touch, then they seemed velvety soft. Humming in his own pleasure, Alfred swept his hands in long strokes down his belly.

Twisting slightly to try and get more of the feeling on his stomach, Arthur's purring grew loud, and he closed his eyes.

"Like it, hmm?" Alfred asked smugly.

"Mmmm...it's all right, I suppose..." he murmured through his purrs, clearly far underexaggerating.

"Oh, just all right?" Alfred rubbed harder.

The dragon began to hum at this sensation, leaning a little into it. "...A little more than all right..."

"Hah, knew it!" Alfred crowed victoriously and stopped rubbing to give Arthur's belly as big a hug as he could manage. "Mmm, Artie, you're so warm..." he said, rubbing his cheek against the scales.

Arthur looked down at the human on his stomach and gave a small, warm chuckle. "Well, I need to be, to produce fire."

Alfred grinned up at him, still pressed flat against him, and waved his arms around so he was simultaneously rubbing Arthur's stomach again. "It's real nice..."

"Heh." Arthur smiled, purring calming down a little but still there. "I'm glad."

"Me too! Oooooh, all this warmth- I don't think I've ever been this warm- we should have done this long ago!" Alfred crawled up so he was sprawled out right under Arthur's wing, and he pulled it over him as a sort of blanket. "Mmm..." He closed his eyes, grinning happily.

Letting out a chortle, Arthur raised his brows at Alfred. "Don't tell me you're already tired...?"

"M'not!" Alfred protested, but just snuggled deeper into his blanket of dragon.

"Well you certainly seem to be." Arthur responded.

"I'm just...resting!"

"Because you're tired, perhaps...?"

"No!" Alfred poked him. "I'm just warm!"

"All right, all right!" Arthur replied with a grin. "So you just want to stay there for now?"

"What do you wanna do?"

"I'm not particularly fussed. If it's a choice between meeting another person right now and not, I'd rather have a break from meeting new girls."

"Aww, you prefer my awesome company?" Alfred batted his eyelashes at Arthur sweetly. "That's adorable!"

"Don't flatter yourself." Arthur replied, though he was smirking.

"Oh, so do you want me to leave?" Alfred asked innocently.

The dragon rolled his eyes. "Don't be ridiculous. You'd be lost without me."

"I would so not be! Don't forget, I grew up a few days' trip away from here!" Alfred said with a wink. "So if anything, you need me!"

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive!"

"Well, I'm not convinced." Arthur said with a sigh.

"Hmph. What, you wanna try it?" Alfred challenged.

"...Try what, exactly?"

"Who's more dependent on who."

"If you like. I know I won't lose either way." Arthur grinned.

"Oh you're on!" Alfred smiled wickedly and slid from him, landing lightly on his feet. "Say...three days on our own? Then we meet back here. We'll see how many girls you have, and how I am very much alive and well and smirking cuz I'll win." he said smugly.

"I'm fairly sure I have a distinct disadvantage in that area." Arthur admitted. "At least make it a little fairer."

"Oh? How do you propose that?"

"If I have to venture into towns to find women, you have to venture into, say, a knight's barracks and get some supplies."

"Wha-" Alfred paused and thought about it. He could easily beg some supplies off of some knight. "What supplies?"

"Anything medicinal. Anything useful, I suppose." Arthur replied.

"So like bandages and herbs and stuff?"

"Yes."

"All right. So, we have a deal?" Alfred stuck his hand out. "Three days, yeah?"

"Three." Arthur met Alfred's hand with his own paw- the closest to a handshake he could manage.

Alfred squeezed Arthur's paw lightly and then let go. "Right. So, I'll see ya!" He turned and started walking away.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N**: New character introduced~!

* * *

Arthur spent the first day mostly on the borders of towns, hoping a girl or two would exit that he could try and convince to stay. Every time a girl came, however, they turned and ran, and eventually Arthur had to give up and head back to the cave.

On the second day, Arthur ventured out again to walk the streets to the nearest town. As he was walking along the cobbles, he heard a noise behind him though nothing was there when he turned to look. Reasoning it was probably just an animal, he turned back with a sigh, only to find a girl standing there. She was clad in cheap armour and pointing a sword at him.

"You're coming with me." she said bluntly, a familiar smug grin plastered over her face.

_ Oh, wonderful, another one._ Arthur rolled his eyes and went to side-step around the woman. "I'm afraid I can't do that." His path was blocked by the stranger as she looked up at him, barely faltering at this.

"Oh, so you can talk? Look, buddy, I don't really care that much, so just come quietly, kay? I'm good with this sword." To prove her point, she swung it around a bit before thrusting it threateningly toward the dragon's chest.

"First of all, I am not your 'buddy', and second, I'd really rather not. I'm in the middle of trying to find someone."

"And I'm in the middle of a quest to kill a dragon so I can become a knight. What, you think I'm gonna give the title to some man?" The woman, stupidly brave, sliced Arthur's chest with her sword, a little blood coming out.

"Look, I'm not just any old dragon, all right? I was cursed this way, so if you'd please let me past..."

"Cursed?" The girl paused in her actions, frowning skeptically. "...You trying to tell me you were human?"

"Yes, exactly."

"...Can you prove that to me?"

"...Not really." Arthur admitted, cogs in his brain whirring to find some way. "You'll have to take my word on it. Though I do know someone who can back me up on it, he'll be back in two days."

The woman sighed loudly. "I guess I can't really kill you if there's even a chance you're human... But I can't leave you either..." She placed her finger on her lips a moment, thinking. "Oh, hey! I'll just stay with you until I know either way. It'll be obvious after a few days anyway."

"Stay...with me?" the dragon questioned, hesitant on the idea.

"Sure! I'm pretty good at staying vigilant, so I know I won't be killed! So anyway, where's your place?"

"I'm not so sure about this idea..."

"Why? It's the only solution. I won't leave your side, and then I can decide if you're human or not. I won't kill you 'til I know, don't worry!"

Arthur let out a huff- he had picked up yet another strange creature. "Whatever." And he headed home, girl in tow. "If you're to be staying with me, I should probably know your name." he said to the girl after a while, glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"Oh! It's Amelia, what's yours?"

"Arthur."

Once they had reached the cave, Arthur immediately curled up in his usual spot, eyeing the woman. There was no doubt she seemed strong enough, and though she was a little irritating, Arthur found it difficult to dislike her. That night, around a small fire- of Arthur's creation- they began to talk a little. Amelia learned more about Arthur's supposed curse and the man he spent his days with, Alfred- who he seemed to be rather worried about- and spent the night on guard and in thought. The next night, Amelia agreed to help Arthur, once she was sure of his humanity- and she hoped she was right. It seemed she would be sure by tomorrow, and she found herself to be quite friendly with the creature.

Eventually, the dawn of the fourth day arrived, and the two both awoke and waited for Alfred to return.

* * *

Alfred meanwhile, had traveled southwards, to where he knew a slightly larger town was located. The journey took him about a day at a faster pace. After sleeping alone on the hard ground, he was glad to see the first houses come into sight- after over two weeks with Arthur, it was really hard to adjust to being alone again. He made a beeline straight for the market, in search of a medical tent, or at the very least directions to the soldier's barracks.

Upon receiving the information he made his way to the sturdy building and tried begging his way inside. He was almost thrown out and whipped for good measure, but then a sympathetic Captain happened to come by and ordered him patched up.

He was assigned to the bed and his bandages were changed, and he wasn't allowed to move for two days. During his stay he talked a bit with the people who were willing to actually stop to speak with him, until finally he was able to plead/annoy his way out of there, with an extra bandage and a small satchel of medical herbs.

He walked back to where Arthur was brightly, with a spring in his step. Oh he so totally won- there was no way that Arthur would be able to convince a girl to stay with him to get a chance to get to know him, especially when he was alone.

"Heeeeeeey, Arti-" He stopped, staring at the girl in shock. "Who the heck are you?" He instantly drew his sword.

Amelia's hand immediately went to her own sword, though she didn't draw it.

"This is Amelia, Alfred." replied Arthur, now stern after his brief sigh of relief. "She's with us."

Blinking, Alfred looked between the two of them, before his mouth fell open a bit in shock. "Wait- so you- you actually did it?!"

"No need to sound so surprised." Arthur said, raising a brow. "I assume you did your part too?"

"Of course I did!" Alfred marched right up to him and deposited the bandage and satchel by his paws. "Hah!"

"...Is that it?" Amelia asked, eyebrows arched.

"Shush, it's a nice attempt." the dragon scolded Amelia, a small chuckle leaving his mouth.

Alfred pouted. "You never said how much, just that I had to get 'em."

"Well I suppose this is a draw then?" Arthur asked.

Amelia looked between the two and leaned over a little to Alfred. "So, this guy here says he's human? Pretty sure he is, but just wanna check."

"Yeah, Artie's human." Alfred nodded and patted Arthur's shoulder, grinning up at the dragon.

Arthur nodded back at the woman, a small, satisfied smile at his success.

In reply, she grinned, giving a wink to the two. "Well then, if that story's true, you're gonna need me to help out!"

"What?" Alfred blinked. "What for, we've been doing perfectly fine on our own..."

"Well seein' as I'm the first girl who's gotten along with your dragon friend, looks like ya do need my help." Amelia gave a small shrug, leaning on her sword. "Besides, I already know some girls back in my town, I could introduce you two."

"She has got a point. It can hardly be bad to have another person helping out." Arthur agreed.

Alfred studied the both of them intently, and then shrugged lightly. "All right. We can try it." He plopped down. "So how long have you two known each other?"

"Only two days, so far," the dragon replied.

"Cool." Alfred couldn't help but feel a little smug as he casually leaned back against Arthur's leg.

"What did you get up to in those days then?"

"Uhh, found a town, got bandaged up- they made me stay with them there, but then let me go. They complained I talked too much!" Alfred pouted. "And then I just came back."

"You do talk too much." Arthur said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, this at least shows that I'm not dependent on you."

"I do not!" Alfred huffed again. "Yeah, well, if I were to leave then you'd still fail." he muttered.

"Doesn't seem like I would..."

"Yeah, he'd have my help!" Amelia interjected.

"Maybe... But still. You need the hero!" Alfred dug through his pack and removed the apple he'd gotten, biting into it and sighing with pleasure.

Arthur raised an eyebrow at this. "Are you still going on about that, even though I proved it wrong? Well... Whatever."

Alfred tilted his head up a bit. "I missed you though. It was so boring there..." He turned around and hugged Arthur's leg, nuzzling to it. "I'm glad to be back with you."

Arthur blinked in surprise before his face softened into a slight smile. "Well, I'm glad you're back too."

Meanwhile, Amelia merely stood with a small smirk at the pair's antics.

"Really?" Alfred looked up at him and grinned wider. "Bring your face down, I wanna hug your nose!"

Arthur glanced slightly awkwardly at Amelia and then lowered his head towards the man. "All right, all right. And yes, really."

"Aww, Artie!" Alfred pretended to wipe away tears of happiness from his eyes before hugging Arthur's nose tightly, stroking his face.

Rolling his eyes, Arthur then nudged Alfred slightly with his nose. "Again, you seem surprised."

Alfred gave his nose an extra tight squeeze. "Well I dunno, thought you'd be all high-and-mighty 'I didn't need you nor miss you at all' 'bout the whole thing..." he admitted.

"Well to be fair, I didn't _need_ you while you were gone," Arthur chuckled. "But it's nice to have you back."

"Still a meanie as usual..." Alfred gave a long sigh.

"Oh, you stop with that." Arthur scolded, earning a stifled snort from the forgotten woman behind him.

"No, cuz you're still one!" Alfred rubbed his cheek fiercely against Arthur's cheek. "A lil lie there wouldn't have hurt!"

"Well, to be fair, I did manage rather well." Arthur retorted, though he let out a small laugh. "Come on, it has only been three days."

"I missed you!" Alfred practically wailed. "You have never gone through practically being tied to a bed for two days in a military medical tent, it ain't fun!"

Arthur hushed the man. "All right, all right. But it's still not that long."

"Yeah, yeah." Alfred slowly released the dragon's nose. "Do ya have any food? I'm hungry..."

"Not yet, we were waiting for you. But I can go and get some?"

"Me too, don't forget! I'd like some!" Amelia interjected.

"Yes, yes, of course. I'd bring back more than enough for two anyway." The dragon walked towards the entrance of the cave, looking back to check Alfred was okay with it.

Alfred stared after him for a moment, an unreadable expression in his eyes, and then looked away, settling down with his back against the wall. "Sure, see ya then."

"All right, see you in a moment." Arthur flew off in search of some tender meat.

Amelia waved as he left, a smile on her face.

"So, who're you exactly?" Alfred asked after a moment of silence.

"Me?" The woman started and turned to Alfred. "Uhh... I'm Amelia, like I said!"

"Yeah, I got that, but like where are you from and stuff?"

"Oh, right!" Amelia let out a small laugh. "Well, there's this town close by- it's probably the one you went to. Anyway, I came from the kinda poor area of there to get the dragon. Luckily I've got a friend who's a knight, so I got good supplies! What about you? I don't really know anything about you."

"I hope you're not planning on 'getting' Arthur anymore. Cuz I will protect him." Alfred warned, frowning slightly. "My village is 'bout two or three days away- I'm pretty poor too, but my brother Mattie's a good healer. I met Artie about three, four weeks ago? Yeah, then, and I've been trying to help him break the curse since. Did he tell you how to do it?"

"'Course I'm not! I wanna help him break it just like you do. Speaking of which, yeah, he's gotta fall in love right?"

"All right." Alfred made a mental note to still keep an eye on her for the next few days, though. "Yup! Which is kinda hard, given his situation and temperament."

"His temperament?" Amelia raised her eyebrows before laughing. "I think it's kinda cute!"

"He's a grumpypants." Alfred muttered. No way he'd admit out loud that he thought it was really cute as well. But if Amelia did...maybe there was a chance with her? Didn't Arthur say he wanted a strong woman? He brought his knees up to his chest and played with his bandages.

"You don't think it's cute?" Amelia's eyes widened a little. "Ah, but he acts all gruff and covers up what he's really like, it's adora-"

At that moment there was a loud 'thud' as Arthur returned, dropping a whole deer on the floor.

"Oh, hey!" the woman greeted, grinning.

"Hey, Artie." Alfred called, glad of the distraction.

"Hello." Arthur called, walking over to the two. "I hope you're not too tired of deer."

"Nah, not yet." Alfred grinned. "Though the rabbit skins are a bit more useful."

"Well I am feeding two now."

"Oh, er... We don't have to eat that raw, do we?" Amelia asked tentatively.

"Nah!" Alfred moved over to the deer and started cutting it up. "Will you start a fire, Artie? And pfft feeding two, what are you, a mother?"

"Ah, all right!" she replied, suddenly more cheerful.

"Bloody feels like it sometimes." Arthur muttered, heading over to Alfred and starting a fire near the carcass.

"So... Do you need any help with anything?" Amelia called over.

Alfred just stuck his tongue out at the dragon. "Hmm?" He turned to Amelia. "Nah, but thanks for the offer." Pretty soon he had some large slices skewered on sticks and suspended over the flames.

The woman went and joined them by the fire, waiting for the food. "Smells good."

Head snapping up at the new presence, Arthur smirked a little. "Deer is my favourite."

"I can make stew again, if you guys want?" Alfred offered.

"Stew? Oh wow, that sounds great!" Amelia exclaimed, excitement present in her voice at the prospect of a nice hot meal.

Arthur nodded. "Sounds like we have approval."

Chuckling, Alfred handed the two sticks to her. "Could you hold those?"

"Sure!" she replied, taking the sticks from him and holding them over the flames herself.

Alfred went over to his pack and took out to pot again, filling it with the rest of the water from his skin after setting it over the flames. He then grabbed his little baggie of herbs and spices and crouched over it, ready to throw them in.

"So how exactly did you two meet then?"

"Oh." Alfred scratched the back of his neck. "I wanted to get the knighthood so I tried to kill him but then he almost killed me but then didn't and helped me heal and then I helped him escape and then he told me everything and I told him I'd help him break the curse!" He leaned his head back and rubbed his cheek against Arthur's leg again, grinning up at the dragon. "Right?"

Arthur opened his mouth to speak but then raised his brows as Alfred answered, glancing down at him. "Yes, that seems more or less accurate." the dragon answered with a small smile.

"Ah, all right! So that's why you have the bandages...?" Amelia asked innocently.

Alfred's own smile widened as he stared up at him. Then he looked back over at Amelia, his whole face warm and bright. "I got shot!"

"What?" Amelia laughed, somewhat confused.

"I was tryin' to help him and these guys came after us and I got hit twice with a crossbow shot." Alfred explained.

"You seem awfully cheerful for someone who got shot." the woman chuckled.

"Eh, doesn't hurt that much. Plus, Artie protected me before they could do anything else!"

"Ahh, all right!"

"You still got hit, though..." Arthur cut in.

"So?" Alfred glanced up at him again, his expression softening and becoming more serious.

"...So, you shouldn't have in the first place." the dragon murmured quietly.

"Artie..." Alfred said softly, and took the dragon's face into his hands. "It's all right, it barely hurts anymore. There was nothing you could do..." He stared deep into the green depths of Arthur's eye. "Don't blame yourself or anythin'."

Arthur kept the connection between his green and Alfred's blue for a moment more before closing his eyes with a frown. "Fine."

Amelia, who had simply been an awkward bystander, joined in. "Heh, you guys are really close, huh?"

"Good." Alfred patted his nose. He turned to Amelia. "W-What? Yeah, we're pretty good friends." He said, though his cheeks were oddly warm.

"Well I guess we're pretty close, but it's nothing special!" Arthur insisted along with Alfred.

"I never said it was." the woman retorted.

"Right." Alfred moved away from Arthur, back to the fireside.

Arthur looked down and followed the man's movements.

"Oh, is it done?" Amelia asked.

"What? No, but I gotta start putting the stuff in, y'know..." Alfred said, and then started tossing spices into the pot.

"Aha, okay," the woman replied, slightly disappointed.

Alfred chuckled. "A few more minutes. Is the meat done? Once it is we'll put it in and then it'll be like five more minutes."

Amelia looked back at the sticks in her hand. "Oh, they should be! Here!" she said, handing them to Alfred to check.

"Thanks!" Alfred examined them, and then tossed the meat into the pot, stirring it all with one of the sticks. "Yup, they're good. I only have one bowl and one spoon though..."

"I don't mind sharing, don't worry! Or I can have it from the pot, if it's easier."

"I can always just have the deer on its own." Arthur offered.

Alfred shook his head. "Nah, Artie, you gotta have some especially." He grinned brightly at the dragon. "You've had the least opportunities for it. And sure, you can have the first bowlful, Amelia. The bowl's in my pack near the top, if you wanna get it, and the spoon's in the side pocket."

"W-Well... Only if you insist." Arthur smiled gratefully at the man.

Amelia headed towards his pack, returning with the utensils. "Really? I can?" She asked excitedly.

"Course! I offered to make it cuz I told you I'd make it for you again, remember?" Alfred winked at him and then turned back to Amelia. "You gotta wait for it to be done!"

The dragon stifled a smile at the wink, simply nodding. "All right then."

"I know, I know!" Amelia said with a pout.

After a few moments, Alfred stepped back from the pot. "Okay, should be good now!" He went over and settled down between Arthur's paws.

"Yeah!" Amelia exclaimed, glad to finally get at the food, and happily served herself, starting to wolf it down. "Ah, it tastes good!"

Arthur chuckled at her reaction, smiling down slightly at Alfred as he settled down.

"Glad it does!" Alfred called back, and then leaned his head back to rest against Arthur's scaly chest. "You're still real warm." he mumbled, grinning yet again and tilting his head up to look up at him.

"Heh. Of course I am, that's hardly going to have changed." the dragon replied with a toothy smirk.

"Mmm, don't ever change that." Alfred snuggled down and closed his eyes- and he had to admit that he'd never felt so right as he did right there with Arthur. But he didn't dwell on those thoughts, merely patting Arthur's scales and relaxing. "Wake me when she's done eating."

Arthur's smile turned softer at the man. "I hardly think that will be very long." He glanced up at Amelia, who had already finished the first portion and was back at the pot, checking if there was enough to have a little more.

Alfred was already asleep, his hands curling gently around one of Arthur's paws.

Laughing quietly at the ridiculous man, Arthur looked up as Amelia approached.

"Oh... Does he want some...?"

"He'll want some," Arthur replied, glancing down at the man. "Maybe give him a few moments."

"Ah, alright..." Amelia frowned at the man before looking up at Arthur. "Well do you want this instead then?" She held up the bowl. "Uhh... You can't really take it yourself though, can you...?"

"This is fine, if you can hold the bowl up..." Arthur dipped his head a little lower to eat from the bowl, Amelia feeding the stew to him.

Letting out a soft moan, Alfred's nose twitched at the scent of the stew. He moved around a bit, but in the end only tightened his hold on Arthur.

As he finished his portion, Arthur looked at Alfred and sighed. "All right, Alfred..." he began, gently nudging him to try and get him up.

"Wha- I'm up!" Alfred sat up quickly, and looked around.

Both Arthur and Amelia both raised their brows. "You wanted some stew...?"

"Yeah!" Alfred crawled out and stretched. "Bowl, please!"

Amelia handed him the bowl. "There should be plenty left!"

"Awesome." Alfred went over to the pot and scarfed down two bowlfuls in quick succession.

Arthur stifled a laugh at Alfred, Amelia taking a seat next to him.

Alfred glanced over at them. "Arthur, you want some? There's still a whole lot left." He stirred the pot with the stick.

"I've already had some, you can go ahead and have that if you like."

"Oh..." Alfred looked down at the pot and stopped stirring. "Well do ya want some more? Otherwise I dunno what we'll do with it- can't really carry it around... Or you, Amelia?"

"Yeah, I can always have some more!" Amelia said with a grin.

"And I suppose, in that case, I can have another bowl." Arthur replied.

Alfred backed away from the pot to give them both some room to eat. "Go ahead then! And later we'll move on?"

Arthur let Amelia go in first with her bowl, before he started eating from the cooking pot.

"Mm, sure! I mean, I can go once we've finished eating and get some girls from my town if you want? 'Course, I'll make sure they won't tell." Amelia offered.

"Sounds good." Alfred gave a slight grinned and watched Arthur lap up the soup.

"Yeah! We could do, like, speed auditions, to see if you like them, Arthur!"

The dragon lifted his head from the food to answer. "Yes, that sounds quite efficient... And we could get through quite a few people that way."

Alfred frowned a bit. "But..."

"But what?" Arthur looked at the other, a slight frown on his face.

"Well...you're a dragon. Girls might freeze up or somethin'. You might miss out cuz she's nervous..." Alfred mumbled.

"Yeah, which is why we'll tell 'em before! I mean, they're all gonna be girls that I trust." Amelia countered.

Arthur nodded his head a little. "That would happen whether we bought two or five people here, Alfred."

"All right. Just thinkin'..." Alfred said quietly, head slightly bowed as he quickly went over to clean the pot up and pack it.

Amelia tipped her head back in thought. "So... When should we leave?"

"Whenever. I'm all packed up." Alfred grinned, but then it faltered as he looked at Arthur. There was no way the two of them would fit comfortably there... "Artie, could ya hold me? Amelia can go on your back."

Arthur blinked in surprise, turning his head to look at his back. "Okay, but... Well Amelia's never flown before, it might be easier to pick her up..."

"No, it's fine, I'm sure I can manage it! It'll be cool, anyway." she insisted.

"Oh... Er, all right..." Arthur threw a small, quick glance towards Alfred, before crouching to let Amelia on. "Shall we?"

With only a slight bit of difficulty, Amelia clambered on and looked over at Alfred.

Alfred coughed slightly and fiddled with his pack as he waited, staring down at the ground. Then, still not looking up that much, he moved towards Arthur, stopping before him. "Yeah, let's go." he said, conjuring up a small smile for the dragon.

"All right." Arthur replied after a pause, and flew out of the cave, picking Alfred up in the process. With Amelia giving them steady directions, Arthur was soon able to land in the forest outside her town, and the woman slid off.

It was weird just hanging there, and there was always the small possibility that Arthur might drop him- and with that possibility of course came fear- but Alfred reminded himself that this was _Arthur_ and Arthur wouldn't do that. Nonetheless he clung tightly to one of the dragon's claws. And who the hell said it would be this cold? It was completely different up on Arthur's back, when the air was directed around him. But under him was a different story, and the human couldn't help but shiver a little, and was glad when they landed.

"All right, then I'll be back soon, okay?" Amelia said, turning away as Arthur sat down.

"See ya!" Alfred called, and then wriggled a bit. "Artie, you wanna set me down?" he asked, warming up a bit now that they were on the ground.

"Ah, of course, sorry." Arthur hurriedly released Alfred, gently setting him on the ground as Amelia left. "I'm not particularly used to carrying you like that."

Alfred wobbled a bit, and grabbed onto Arthur's leg to steady himself. "Heh, I can tell. How hard were you gripping me?" His legs tingled as the blood shot back to them.

Arthur frowned in worry and his head shot down to peer at Alfred. "Not too hard, I hope?"

"Nah, don't worry." Alfred patted his nose. "I'm fine."

"All right, good."

"...What the heck do you do while I'm off? It's so boring!" Alfred suddenly lay down on the grass between his paws and stared up at him.

"Normally just lay here and wait." Arthur let out a small chuckle. "Alfred, I've spent twenty years doing nothing all day- I'm used to it."

Alfred's eyes widened. "How have you survived?" he whispered. Then, "I'm sorry I didn't get there earlier."

"Don't be. You were barely alive when I got cursed, after all." Arthur sighed a little. "Well, I survived it by... Collecting antiques, I suppose."

"Still. I coulda got there like one or two years ago..." Alfred sighed, but then changed topics. "Tell me about some of 'em!"

"The things I collected? Hmm... I think, the most important one was probably this old box. I remember seeing my dad bringing it back and selling it- I always wanted it though, it was beautiful, green and gold..." Arthur's eyes shone at the nostalgia. "...But we needed the money. When I became a dragon, I saw it in the window of a house. I had to have it. And since then I'd gone searching for something to take home with me every day."

"You haven't...hurt anyone for the stuff, have you?"

"Of course not. It was all found in the open or on window sills."

"That's good, then. How much money you estimate you got there? I saw a whole ton of gold coins."

"I don't know, really. I just picked it up as I went." Arthur thought for a moment. "Probably quite a bit."

"Lucky..." Alfred murmured very quietly, without even realizing he spoke.

Arthur's eyes shot to Alfred for a moment, before settling on the grass by his paw. "Yeah... Lucky..."

"Wh-What?" Alfred started, and then grew red. "Shit, sorry."

"It's fine." Arthur mumbled, eyes still trained to the ground.

"A-Artie, really." Alfred's face filled with sadness and he poked Arthur's leg to get the dragon to look at him. "M'sorry..."

Arthur glanced at Alfred and, after a brief pause nodded slowly, accepting.

"Bring your face down." Alfred said, reaching up with his hands like a child would to their parent.

His expression softening, Arthur lowered his head towards the human.

Alfred hugged the underside of his nose tightly, rubbing his cheeks against the scales. "M'sorry..." he mumbled.

After a brief second, Arthur closed his eyes, starting to emit a gentle purr at the feeling. "It's fine" he repeated, this time more honestly.

"I'm still sorry though..." Alfred started to gently scratch the underside of his jaw, while still managing to maintain the hug. Arthur's warmth surrounded him, encased him completely, and he felt he could melt.

"Don't be." Arthur said, his purring growing louder at the other's actions.

"If you insist..." Alfred smiled at the purrs.

"I do."

At that moment, Amelia came bumbling back through the forest, seven girls at her tail. The closest of the lot said 'aww' upon seeing the sight before her.

"Hey, I brought those girls like I said!"

* * *

**A/N**: Yes, it's fem!America, though the two have no relation. Alfred's getting a bit jealous, though he'd never admit it~

And next chapter will be the interviews with the girls!


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N**: Time to meet the girls!

* * *

Alfred jerked up and his head connected with Arthur's chin. Moaning slightly, he let go and crawled out from under him. "Oww... Sorry, Artie." he muttered, standing and waving slightly to them.

Arthur winced as they clashed, his own head shooting up as his scales became dusted with red. "Ah, hello..."

"Arthur, Alfie, this is Beth, Anne, Poppy, Mary, Helena, Lily and Gloria. Guys, this is Arthur! See, ain't he a cutie?"

"Hiya!" Alfred called cheerfully, grinning as he lightly massaged his head.

"Umm... Amy, I don't think I can do this..." Gloria admitted.

"No, me neither... Sorry, I just..." one of the blonde girls trailed off, glancing at Arthur quickly.

"Oh... Of course, no problem! Thanks for coming." Amelia said, no less cheerful than before, and turned to Arthur and Alfred.. "So, how do you wanna do this?"

"One at a time, I guess? Few minutes each?" Alfred suggested.

"Yes, that could work... I take it they know the full situation?" Arthur directed at Amelia.

"Yep!"

"Awesome." Alfred moved off to the side and settled beneath a tree. "I'll just...keep out of the way, I guess."

"Alright! So, Mary?" Amelia gave her a gentle push in the direction of the dragon.

"...Hello," he said.

Mary shot a small glare in Amelia's direction before turning to the dragon. "Hello, sir." She inclined her head politely.

Arthur cleared his throat, a little awkward. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Mary. Please, feel free to call me Arthur.."

"Arthur it is, then!" Mary moved a little closer. "You look really cool, I have to say."

The dragon chuckled a little at this. "That doesn't just apply to my dragon side; I assure you."

"Oh?" Mary raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly. "That's some big talk there."

"Well I wouldn't lie to you."

Mary chuckled again. "I don't doubt that. So whatcha like to do?"

"Well... I suppose I've gotten rather into collecting things," Arthur pondered. "But I'm also quite fond of tapestry. What about you?"

"Collecting things is cool! I like horseback riding and hunting- I used to go with Amelia all the time, we still go sometimes if there's time." Mary picked slightly at her dress. "I only wore it cuz she said it was better to be proper. I know some guys don't like that." She grinned loosely at him. "If you don't that's okay too, it was really cool to even meet you!"

"Well... I suppose it's alright really, as long as you act all right... But I think the dress suits you." Arthur replied.

"Thanks! It's uncomfortable as hell though." Mary stretched, quickly glancing to Amelia to see how much time she had left. "How long have ya been like this?"

Amelia held up two fingers in return, looking to see who should go next as Arthur answered.

"About 20 years now..."

"I may go next." Lily volunteered, her accented voice soft as she stepped up to Amelia.

"Really? Holy shit that's a lot..." Mary looked at him sympathetically.

"Ah, sure! You can go up in a second, I think they're almost done..."

Arthur shrugged slightly. "Yes, it is... But one loses track of the time somewhat."

Lily smiled and took a small step towards Arthur, but still staying close to Amelia.

"Guesso..." Mary studied him critically. "You don't think you really have a shot with me, do you?"

The dragon raised an eyebrow. "Why, do you?"

"Well you don't seem like really really interested..." Mary shrugged. "But friends are cool too, right?" she shot him another easy grin and placed a hand on her hip.

At this the dragon smirked a little. "It'd be my pleasure. And I think our time is up." he stated, eyes flicking to Amelia waiting for them.

"Can I touch you before I go?"

"...I don't see why not."

"Thanks." Mary stepped up to him and stroked his nose for a moment before stepping back. "See ya hopefully when you're human, Arthur!" Flashing a final grin at him, she trotted back over to Amelia, giving Lily a little push along the way.

The short-haired brunet looked decidedly more nervous than Mary, but she was still smiling warmly. "_Bonjour_."

"...Well, hello there," Arthur greeted, frowning down slightly at the woman.

"I am called Liliane, _mais_ most call me Lily. _Enchantée_."

The dragon paused, unsure, but decided to give it a shot anyway. "It's... It's lovely to meet you too. You already know, but I'm Arthur."

"_Oui_!" Lily paused, biting her lip a bit. "I am sorry but ahh, I am not sure where to go from here? _Je suis désolé_..."

"Perhaps you could tell me a little about your interests?" Arthur suggested.

"Oh! Right. Well, I enjoy the knitting and traveling... I stay at home the most, but ahh...ahh...oh, right sometimes. Sometimes Amelia will take me out with the other girls to go get a drink. I came here not too long ago, so I still have some difficulties..." Lily glanced at her friend. "Amelia has been very kind."

"That's quite all right, I understand." Arthur said softly, also regarding the woman who was giving Lily an encouraging smile. "I'm a fan of tapestry myself. So... Why did you come here, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I was interested." Lily told him. "_Et_ who better to give you love than a _française_?"

"W-Well..." Arthur shifted a little uncomfortably. "That might be the difficult part... I-I mean, I don't mean to sound rude, but actually, the person who gave me this curse was French, and...well, I might have a few problems."

Lily's eyes widened. "O-Oh! _Pardonne-moi_- Pardon me, I-I didn't know..."

"No, no, it's quite all right, of course you didn't!" Arthur replied with haste. "But... I'm sorry, it does remind me of them a rather fair amount..."

"I understand." Lily saddened slightly, but she mustered up a smile for him. "_Au revoir_, then?"

After a brief moment, Arthur gave a small nod, his head hung slightly low. "I really am dreadfully sorry... Hopefully I will see you again though?"

"_O-Oui_... It is no problem, really." She slowly turned and walked back, heading right for Amelia with her arms slightly outspread.

"Should I go next, then?" Beth asked, daintily wiping her brow with a perfectly white handkerchief. "Very well." Without waiting for an answer she walked over to Arthur, picking the folds of her dress up so they wouldn't dirty.

"Lily?" Amelia said quietly, taking a step towards her, a worried look on her face.

Arthur's gaze switched to the woman below him, tearing away from Lily as he swallowed his guilt. "Hello."

"I am fine." Lily stepped into her arms and hugged her.

"Good afternoon. My name is Beth." She allowed her skirts to flow gracefully back down to their proper length and gently tucked the handkerchief back into her pocket. "I'm honestly just came here because of Gloria, but now..."

Amelia wrapped her arms around the woman comfortingly, giving her a gentle squeeze.

Slightly taken aback by Beth, Arthur gaped for a second before clearing his throat and speaking. "Well, as you know, I'm Arthur, it's lovely to meet you... So, do you have any interest in being here?"

Lily leaned up on her tip-toes to nuzzle to Amelia's neck. "_Merci_." she said quietly.

"Not really, though I suppose you're an interesting specimen."

Stroking the French woman's hair soothingly, Amelia kept comforting her.

"Specimen?" Arthur raised a brow.

"Mmm..." Lily held onto her for a few more moments until a tug on her arm sent her stepping away. She turned to find Anne standing behind her, smiling a bit. "Yes?"

"C'mon, I have something to tell you." Anne told her, and gently tugged her away while glancing at the dragon. The two of them settled beneath a tree not too far from where Alfred was located and soon enough Lily was laying with her head in Anne's lap, smiling softly while the other girl carded through her hair and caressed her cheeks with affectionate touches.

"Yes, specimen." Beth replied smoothly.

"...Well, we may as well have the next woman come over, if you're not interested." Arthur looked over to where Amelia, a small smile on her face, was standing.

"Very well." Beth turned and haughtily walked back, only pausing to bid farewell to Amelia before making her way back to their town.

Poppy came forward. "Since I think Anne is...interested elsewhere, I'll go." she said, and marched right up to Arthur's paws. "You are an idiot." she declared.

"All right." Amelia giggled, watching Poppy as she left.

Arthur's eyes widened and his head snapped back a little at the strong presence, slack-mouthed as he struggled to reply. "I... Uh, why?"

"Because you are blind, and coarse, and wouldn't be able to see true love before your eyes if it was dancing around in front of you while naked. Already didn't see it... But anyways, you'd better open your eyes and _take notice_ before it's too late." Poppy continued. "I'm a seer." she said, tapping the side of her head lightly. "And I can tell you right now, you don't have much time left. Already you've managed to hurt your chances. Idiot."

"Wha...?" Arthur frowned quizzically, taken aback- not to mention slightly offended. "Take notice of what? If you're wanting me to do something, at least explain properly!"

"Wow, you really are dense. I can't explain, that would ruin the fun and take away from the curse. You just have to be more observing!" Poppy reached out and lightly patted his leg. "That's all I really wanted to say."

"Dense? I... Well, alright, I take it you weren't here for me then..."

"Nope! Just came to warn you so you didn't screw up too badly before it was too late." Poppy grinned. "I hope you'll at least think about it all."

"Well, I'm sure I would if I knew what it was I was supposed to think about..." Arthur muttered. "Still, thank you, I suppose. I'll try my best."

"Good." Poppy patted him again and turned away. "Good luck, Kirkland." she said, before walking to Amelia. "I can take 'em all back, if you wanna stay here."

"Ah, yeah if you could, that'd be great!"

"All right, see you around!" Poppy rounded up the remaining girls and they started off, soon vanishing amidst the trees.

* * *

**A/N**: a.k.a Mary definitely isn't the one, Lily is French, she and Anna turn out to be lesbians, Beth is an asshole, and Poppy is awesome. I love Poppy so much...


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N**: Tension!

* * *

Alfred stood up and stretched, walking over to them. "Phew, so we're done?" He glanced around. "We should probably move on soon, just in case."

Arthur nodded. "All right, we can move tomorrow. We have been here a while, I suppose."

"Tomorrow?" Alfred frowned a bit. "I meant today. Put a little distance between us and the town."

Amelia let out a small sigh. "Look, I'm telling you, they're not gonna tell anyone! Relax, all right? They're my friends."

"If you're sure about that, then it might be good for us to stay here." Turning to Alfred, the dragon nodded. "You've been away for three days. We're probably both pretty tired, and I don't particularly want to deal with more girls today either."

"Oh...right..." Alfred rubbed the back of his neck and turned away, busying himself by gathering a bunch of small sticks for a fire. "Just tryin'a help...sorry..." he said quietly.

"Don't worry about it. Are either of you hungry?" Arthur asked.

"Nah, I'm good." Alfred replied, his voice slightly hollow.

"Yeah, I can manage without, if you're not hunting anyway," Amelia replied.

"Well, alright, just tell if you do."

Nodding absently at him, Alfred focused intensely on his little pile of sticks. The sky was slowly starting to darken, and he wanted some fire. Some minutes later, when he had arranged them into a perfect upside down cone shape, he raised his head. "Hey, Arthur?" he called, not even feeling up to using the nickname. "Could you light me a fire?"

Arthur frowned slightly at the name, standing and walking over. "Sure." Once he got there, he lowered his head and his voice as he acted busy. "Alfred, what is it?"

"Hmm?" Alfred looked up at him and put on a bright face. "Nothing! I was just thinking, heh... I'm fine, don't worry 'bout me, thanks for the fire."

"All right." Arthur said, blowing said fire to surround the pile of sticks. "Well, tell me when you want to sleep."

"I'll be up a bit later, but you and Amelia can head off if you want. I'll just wriggle in somewhere later..." Alfred gave him another broad grin- so well faked that only someone who knew him as well as his twin would be able to see anything wrong with it, and then started rummaging around in his pack for his blades and whetstone.

"I'm not particularly tired... Not sure about Amelia though. I'll see..." Arthur trailed off as he headed back over to where Amelia was.

As soon as he was gone the facade dropped and Alfred's shoulders slumped ever so slightly. Arthur and Amelia were in such good sync lately- which was good, of course, since he figured Amelia would be the one to probably break the curse. He glanced at them and then quickly shifted so his back was to them as he started sharpening his sword by the fireside.

"I'll sleep in a bit, in that case." Amelia said, answering Arthur's question. "I'm not _that_ tired right now. But I'll tell you when I wanna!"

Alfred focused on his sword, tuning out the voices behind him. When he finished with the larger blade he moved on to one of his two daggers.

After a while, Amelia agreed to sleep.

Arthur shuffled a little, glancing behind to Alfred- he hadn't slept with Amelia before, but it wouldn't do to leave her out with Alfred here. "Are you tired or busy?" he asked.

Alfred jumped a bit and turned his head around. "Oh, you're talking to me?"

"Of course..."

"I'm gonna finish this up first."

"All right... Well then, I think we're off..." Arthur turned back to Amelia, lying down as he did so. "Shall we?"

"Ah, sure!" The woman settled down where she stood, before Arthur interjected.

"Uh... Are you sure that's warm enough? You can use my wing to warm you, if you want..."

"Oh, are you sure that's okay?" Amelia raised her brows, a surprised at the offer.

"Well... It's how Alfred sleeps, so it's fine. I have two wings after all."

Amelia headed towards Arthur as he raised a wing, a small grin forming upon her face. "All right then!"

Alfred looked over at them when he was done and his face further fell. But he shook his head determinedly- he would not think badly of Amelia, she was helping them. As it had taken him a bit longer than he anticipated they were both fast asleep. He debated for a while just staying and sleeping there, but in the end blew the fire out and slowly, quietly made his way over. Grabbing his thin blanket along the way, he stopped and lay down next to Arthur's foreleg, but so he wasn't touching it. After a few moments, he finally fell into a restless sleep.

The next morning, Arthur awoke slowly, yawning as he looked down. When he saw Alfred next to him, covered only by a tatty blanket, he frowned. Why didn't he just wake the dragon, or crawl under his wing...?

Alfred was still asleep, and he was clutching the blanket around him tightly. There was a soft frown on his face, and he was shivering ever so slightly.

After a pause and a sigh, Arthur leaned and nudged the man with his nose. "Alfred."

Startling awake, Alfred looked up at him. "Oh, mornin', Arthur." he said, drawing the blanket more around his shoulders.

"Are you an idiot, sleeping under that?" The dragon huffed as he reprimanded Alfred.

"No, I just didn't wanna bother you, you were asleep." Alfred muttered back, turning away.

"It's hardly a bother. I'd rather be woken than have you catch something..." Turning his head to the other side, he saw Amelia was also asleep and sighed.

Alfred just shrugged.

As he retracted his wing, Arthur nudged Amelia to wake her.

"Wha...why's it cold?" she mumbled.

"Because it's time to wake up." Arthur turned back to Alfred. "Anyway, you really should have just crawled under. I wouldn't have woken anyway... That blanket'd never warm you enough."

"I'm fine." Alfred stood and walked back over to the remains of his previous fire. "So when do you guys wanna move on?"

Amelia, now sat up, stretched as she yawned. "Oh, hey Alfie! I don't really mind when we get going, I'll just tag along."

"Well, I suppose I could get some food for you first, and then we could head off?" Arthur looked at the two inquisitively.

"Sure, whatever you want."

"All right... I'll be back soon then." The dragon turned and took off into the forest, searching for something edible to eat.

"See ya Arthur!" Amelia called behind him.

"Bye, Arthur..." Alfred mumbled. When the dragon was gone, he carefully started reorganizing his pack.

When Arthur returned, they quickly ate and then took off. Over the next few days, it pretty much became standard routine: flying, eating, sleeping at night- Amelia under Arthur's wing and Alfred either off to the side if he managed to stay up late enough, or sometimes between Arthur's paws if the dragon was forceful enough- and occasionally seeing a girl or two. None of them made a lasting impression on Arthur, though he and Amelia seemed to be growing closer.

Alfred also noticed a slight shift in positions. Amelia and Arthur agreed on practically everything, and it was usually the opposite of what Alfred was thinking. The blond started having darker thoughts about his place in their little group. Amelia was always on Arthur's back when they flew, and by his side when they were sleeping, and he slowly started to doubt if he was even needed...

His thoughts were particularly turbulent one night when they landed.

Arthur gently placed Alfred down, and allowed Amelia to slide off his back.

"Welp, that could have gone better!" the woman exclaimed with gusto.

"Thanks." Alfred said quietly. "Yeah, guess so, but it's kinda to be expected at this point..."

Arthur frowned. "Expected how..?"

Alfred shrugged. "Well, we've barely been getting any positive reactions. No offense, Arthur."

Arthur blinked, surprised. "W-Well...of course not yet, I mean it's to be expected, but..."

"Aww, poor Arthur!" Amelia scratched the dragon a little sympathetically. "Hey, there've been some that're all right though!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm just saying, even the ones that have haven't worked out..." He sighed, scratching his neck. "Are we even going about this the right way? It's been over a month..."

"Well, what other way is there to go about it...?" Arthur shrugged. "It was you who suggested this, after all."

"I know, I know!" Alfred replied, his voice a little louder than was necessary.

Arthur flinched a little, taking a step back.

"Hey, he was just asking if you knew any other way." Amelia stepped in, brushing the comment off with a small grin.

"Yeah, I got that." Alfred shot her a look and then turned away from the both of them with a sigh, running his hands through his hair. "Not that it really matters if he was to ask me or not." he muttered quietly as he walked off to find sticks for a fire.

Frowning at this, Amelia flashed a confused look at the dragon, who then took a few steps after the man. "Alfred...?" he called out.

"I'm fine. Sorry for snappin'." Alfred said, steadfastly not looking at him.

Arthur paused, still wearing a worried look on his face as he drew back quietly. "...A-All right..."

Nodding, Alfred resumed his previous actions. He made and unmade and remade the little cone of sticks about five times before he glanced over at the other two. They were talking quietly, and Arthur even laughed. Alfred's heart twisted, though he didn't even know why. He looked away and stood up.

"I'm gonna go bathe." he called softly, not even checking if they heard him before walking off.

"So what was up?" Amelia had asked upon the dragon's return.

"I have no idea..." he replied.

They continued talking for a while, Arthur gradually feeling a little better, and eventually he looked up. As he did so he frowned - Alfred wasn't in sight.

"Oh, I think he said something about bathing." Amelia waved dismissively as she picked up on Arthur's furrowed brow. "Hey, so tell me more about your mom then?"

Arthur lowered his head again. "Ah, yes..."

Alfred returned about a half an hour later in a slightly better mood, his shirt and pants slightly wet. "Hey there..."

"Ah, welcome back..." Arthur greeted, turning his head to gaze at Alfred.

"Hey!" Amelia gave the man a small wave.

Alfred put on a small smile, but it quickly faded. "Are we gonna sleep soon?"

"If you want to... Are you tired?" Arthur looked the other over with concerned eyes.

"Yeah, a lil bit." Alfred grabbed his blanket and slowly walked over to them.

"Alright then, come on." The dragon lay down, looking over to Amelia. "Are you coming?"

"Sure, I may as well! Gimme a sec."

Alfred went closer and settled down next to his paws, pulling the blanket over himself. He curled up under it and closed his eyes.

"Alfred..." Arthur mumbled quietly, giving in with a sigh after that as he lifted his wing to allow Amelia in.

"What?" Alfred asked softly, stirring a bit.

The dragon looked at him for a few moments. "You'll be cold..."

Alfred shuffled closer. "...Put a paw over me then?"

"If you're sure it won't be too heavy." Arthur replied, though he had a small smile on his lips as he leaned a paw over the man anyway.

"It'll be fine..." Alfred mumbled, a faint grin coming to his face as he felt the weight and familiar warmth settle over him.

"All right." Arthur gently closed his eyes in the hope of sleep, letting out a small huff. He frowned as he drifted off along with the others, thinking about the day and Alfred's earlier outbursts- they really had quite affected him- but at least it seemed alright now... And this was quite peaceful...

Alfred was woken in the middle of the night by a strange sensation on his side and stomach. He frowned and blinked awake. It was much colder, and he realized Arthur's paw was no longer over him. He saddened at the thought, but then was distracted when he felt something- it seemed to be an arm?- around his waist. He turned his head and was met with a stranger practically spooning him.

"...WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

Arthur and Amelia's eyes both shot open, Arthur staring at the man in front of him as Amelia rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Alfred, what is it?" Arthur muttered urgently.

Alfred scrambled away from the blond man- were those supposed to be eyebrows?- lying with them. "Who are you?! How do you know my name?!"

"Wh- Alfred, I..."

A shriek came from behind him, and Amelia quickly clapped her hands over her mouth. "Arthur?!"

Jumping slightly at the sound, Arthur began to sit up, and as his tiredness began to fade away he realized that everything was just a little odd- everything seemed bigger somehow, and his movements felt strange. Then as he glanced down, he caught sight of a limb and his gaze immediately widened. His eyes trailed up the arm to a definitely _human_ body and he shuffled back, sitting straighter, to stare at his hands.

Alfred stared at him in shock. "A-Arthur?" he asked hoarsely.

Arthur's eyes shot to Alfred as he gaped at him, unsure what expression to show. "I-I..." His breathing became unsteady as he struggled for what to do next. "Alfred..." he whispered.

"I-" Alfred's heart rate sped up slightly. How the heck was Arthur so hot- no. Arthur liked Amelia. It had to be Amelia. "Y-You fell in love..."

Arthur's expression grew more desperate as he shook his head, eyes not leaving Alfred. "No... No, I didn't, I-" He looked back down at his hands- _hands_- and tried to think. "I don't know why..."

Amelia grinned slightly as she came over, surveying the scene. "Arthur, this is great! So, uh, you must've..." the woman threw a furtive glance at Alfred. "Y'know."

"No!" Arthur stared at each of them, the desperation etched on his face. "I-It must have worn off on its own, I'm not...!"

"I don't think it would've..." Alfred slowly got over his shock and moved closer, staring at him in wonder. Then he snapped out of it and flashed him a small smile. "You an' Amelia will be cute together." he said lowly, only to Arthur.

Head snapping to look at Alfred, Arthur tried to form words as he gave the other an almost pleading look. "No... A-Alfred, please, I don't... I don't know why this has happened and I don't love her..."

"Then it must've been one of the other girls..." Alfred moved closer again and lightly touched Arthur's forehead. "How do ya feel? Maybe it was just a glitch then...?"

Arthur jumped back, his eyes wide and searching as he stared at the man. "No! I don't love anyone!" he shouted as he quaked. And as his breathing grew heavier and his expression more desperate he suddenly slumped, slowly drooping to the ground.

"A-Arthur!" Alfred leaned forward and caught him gently before he hit the ground, and then lowered him. The other man started glowing then, and Alfred was forced back as he rapidly grew. Seconds later, he was a dragon again. "Wh-What?"

Amelia started as Arthur started to fall, reaching forward but stopping when Alfred got there first. Instead, she took a step back as he suddenly grew back into a dragon, mouth open slightly. "He's...?! G-Go find some water or something, I'll look after him!" she ordered Alfred.

"I- uhh, sure..." Alfred looked from Arthur to Amelia and back, before backing away and then running into the woods with his empty water skin.

"H-Hey, Arthur?" Amelia looked down at the once again dragon with concern, giving him a gentle whack on the head "Oi."

Arthur stirred, opening his eyes and lifting his head. Inspecting his body, he gave a gentle groan and frowned. "I-I... Just what is going on?!" He gave Amelia a hopeful look, who just closed her mouth and gave a shrug with a small smile.

Alfred got the water soon enough and headed back, this journey slightly longer as he had added weight now. When he reached the edge of the clearing he paused, staring. Arthur and Amelia were sitting and talking together, and Arthur occasionally laughed at something she said. Alfred's heart twisted. Arthur was fine; they didn't really need the water. They didn't really need him either, it seemed. He soundlessly slipped back into the shadows, waited about a minute, and then came crashing in, a worried look plastered on his face like a mask.

"Hey, I got the water!"

Jumping slightly and cutting off her attempts to cheer Arthur up, Amelia turned to the man. "Ah, great! And Arthur's up! Hey, you thirsty?" she asked the dragon, glancing up at him.

"Yes, I suppose I am, actually..."

"I noticed..." Alfred brought the water over to them and then settled down, drawing the blanket over his shoulders again. "How do you feel?" he asked Arthur, his expression carefully neutral.

After taking a few gulps of the water, Arthur answered. "I'm...not really sure. I mean, it's a shame I'm not human still..."

"Yeah, that kinda sucks..." Alfred gave him a grin. "But hey, if you did it once, it might be easier to do it again!" He yawned.

"That's true..." Arthur looked at the other when he yawned. "Ah... Shall we get some more sleep maybe?"

"Sleep would be good, yeah." Amelia said as she stretched.

"Yeah, sure." Alfred curled up next to his leg again.

Arthur hummed as he lay down, Amelia sliding under his wing, and he closed his eyes to drift off to sleep.

Though his eyes were closed, Alfred didn't fall asleep. He waited until the other two were soundly snoring until he made his move. He slowly stood up and folded the blanket. Glancing at Arthur's nose, he considered giving the dragon a farewell pat, but then decided it wasn't worth the risk of him waking up. He quietly made his way to the other side of the clearing and carefully stuffed the blanket into his ready-waiting pack. Picking up a stick, he scribbled a message into the dirt.

_He likes belly rubs and getting scratched under the chin._

Then, with a final look at the two of them, he hitched the pack on his back and quietly padded away. They'd be fine on their own and well, Alfred had a few days to come up with a reason to tell Matthew why he didn't kill the dragon and become a knight. By daybreak, he was a good few miles away.

* * *

**A/N**: And he's gone.


End file.
